High Cholesterol Support Group
High cholesterol is the presence of high levels of cholesterol in the blood. It is not a disease but a metabolic derangement that can be secondary to many diseases and can contribute to many forms of disease, most notably cardiovascular disease. If you have high cholesterol, join the community to find support and share your experience.
Cholesterol gets all the attention. Its a big buzz word. A villain ready to clog our arteries and give us a fatal heart attack. We do everything we can to lower it. We go on low cholesterol diets and take pills to lower it.
Calcium is also a component of artery plaque. It clogs arteries too. So wait just a doggone minute! Why do they tell us to lower our cholesterol, and then comes a TV ad telling us about a great source for calcium?
Pretty big contradiction isn't it? 100% of the attention goes to cholesterol. 0% media attention to calcium deposits in artery walls. But artery plaque is comprised of both lipids and calcium.
So why are they not telling us to lower our calcium?
Because you can't! Calcium has a very narrow lab range. The body must hold calcium levels at a precise point to maintain proper metabolic function.
Cholesterol is different. It has a WIDE lab range. Its an easy sell. Lower your cholesterol and lower your risk for a heart attack. But they can't sell calcium that way. Despite calcium's constant levels, calcium still builds in artery walls and contributes to a coronary event.
Its not the calciums fault. Its supposed to be there cause you can't live without it. Its when something else goes wrong the calcium becomes a hostage and collects on artery walls.
Same thing with cholesterol. Its not cholesterol's fault. Its there for a purpose. But when something else goes wrong, cholesterol becomes the hostage and becomes entrapped in the tissue layers of the artery walls.
Thats why people get heart disease despite their cholesterol levels. High, low, very low, and everything in between.
So, how many people here want to lower their calcium to prevent heart disease?
Slowly but surely consumers are waking up.
Calcium is also a component of artery plaque. It clogs arteries too. So wait just a doggone minute! Why do they tell us to lower our cholesterol, and then comes a TV ad telling us about a great source for calcium?
Pretty big contradiction isn't it? 100% of the attention goes to cholesterol. 0% media attention to calcium deposits in artery walls. But artery plaque is comprised of both lipids and calcium.
So why are they not telling us to lower our calcium?
Because you can't! Calcium has a very narrow lab range. The body must hold calcium levels at a precise point to maintain proper metabolic function.
Cholesterol is different. It has a WIDE lab range. Its an easy sell. Lower your cholesterol and lower your risk for a heart attack. But they can't sell calcium that way. Despite calcium's constant levels, calcium still builds in artery walls and contributes to a coronary event.
Its not the calciums fault. Its supposed to be there cause you can't live without it. Its when something else goes wrong the calcium becomes a hostage and collects on artery walls.
Same thing with cholesterol. Its not cholesterol's fault. Its there for a purpose. But when something else goes wrong, cholesterol becomes the hostage and becomes entrapped in the tissue layers of the artery walls.
Thats why people get heart disease despite their cholesterol levels. High, low, very low, and everything in between.
So, how many people here want to lower their calcium to prevent heart disease?
Slowly but surely consumers are waking up.
Therefore if your "intima" is in perfect state , it really does not matter how much cholesterol or calcium you will have from a CVD point of view.
The issue is to know the status of your endothelium.. it is clear that a person with atherosclerosis has it already damaged, and in those people seems logical to lower the cholesterol to avoid further risks.
Then the big issues are how to prevent damage in the endothelium, how to measure their status before atherosclerosis and what treatments to heal it.
For the fist question... you basically get the pollutants as culprit .. from air pollution to teflon in the pans passing throw dioxines in plastic food packaging and chemicals in the crops and meats.... You have to go to the far country side and growth your own food and have your water well if you want to avoid it.
For the second, HS-CRP test, NO measurements, and special braquial doppler echography, are emerging as potential indicators / techniques.
And for the third, basically multiple types of antioxidants agents...
By the way... YES Calcium is limited ... high levels of it can produce arrhythmias and death but the fact is that is much more rare an excess in Ca than in cholesterol.
Jesus
I'll touch base on the environmental factors later. Just wanted to let you know how impressed I am with your answer.
You are probably correct about a sensitive Endothelium layer running in families, and some folks being prone to get heart disease. Very good analogy on the different skin types.
Its a strange thing. One person can smoke and get away with it, while another person gets a little second hand smoke and suffers the consequences.
I have the same exact story as you. My grandmother also lived to 101 eating a greasy diet. Hey, were not cousins are we? Ha!