Posted on 12/13/2011 12:11:01 PM PST by decimon
New study reveals molecular mechanism promoting the breakdown of plaque by statins
In a new study, NYU Langone Medical Center researchers have discovered how cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins promote the breakdown of plaque in the arteries...
The findings support a large clinical study that recently showed patients taking high-doses of the cholesterol-lowering medications not only reduced their cholesterol levels but also reduced the amount of plaque in their arteries. However, until now researchers did not fully understand how statins could reduce atherosclerosis, the accumulation of fat and cholesterol that hardens into plaque in arteries, a major cause of mortality in Western countries. High blood cholesterol is a major culprit in atherosclerosis. As a result of narrowing arteries, blood clots can form or plaque can break off causing blockages in vessels. This can lead to a potentially fatal heart attack or stroke.
"Our new research shows statins actually promote the regression of atherosclerosis by altering the expression of a specific cell surface receptor within plaque cells," said co-author of the study, Edward Fisher, MD, PhD, Leon H. Charney Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine and director of the Marc and Ruti Bell Vascular Biology Program at NYU Langone Medical Center. "This molecular phenomenon helps dissolve plaque by expelling coronary artery disease-causing cells from the plaque lining the arteries."
The NYU Langone study reveals how statins promote the transformation of arterial plaques by activating a protein that sits on the surface of macrophages, immune cells that are prevalent in plaque. The immune system sends macrophages to clean up cholesterol deposits in arteries, but once they fill up with the bad form of cholesterol they get stuck in the arteries, triggering the body's inflammatory response. The bloated macrophages then become major components of plaque lining artery walls.
(Excerpt) Read more at eurekalert.org ...
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Lecithin does the same thing for pennies a dose.
You can buy it without prescription at any health-food
store or online.
Also, no side effects.
Studies. links, proof ?
Google is your friend. Unfortunately, I’m at work and they don’t pay me to do research for FR here... :-(
New studies suggest gut bacteria metabolites of choline promote atherosclerosis in mice through TMAO production and "augmented macrophage cholesterol accumulation and foam cell formation". [6] Mice fed with egg-yolk derived lecithin, developed arterial plaque in spite of no increase in cholesterol or triglyceride levels.[7]
OK, stick to your day job.
My cholesterol dropped from 248 to 195, with a high ratio of HDL (good) to LDL (bad) cholesterol. It has been the same ever since.
"This research study was supported by funding from the National Institutes of Health, Astra Zeneca and Pfizer. "
Feel free to draw your own conclusions. I have.
Good show! What dietary changes did you make, if any? Am taking RYR now along with niacin and fish oil plus cinnamon and turmeric and some other vitamins.
Want your cholesterol numbers to go down?
Walk 20-30 minutes outside with a lot of your skin exposed to decent sunlight.
YOur body will convert cholesterol into vitamin D. Not only do you decrease cholesterol, you increase vitamin D, essential for your immune system to function properly and efficiently.
YOU GO, STATINS!!
That's a FReebie.
IIRC, according to one of my pathology teachers, pathologists found fatty streaks in the aortas of our young, otherwise formerly healthy casualties during the Korean War.
bfl
Everybody is unique. What works for some, might not for others. I did what you said and my results were different. It did lower overall cholesterol, HDL, but had no effect on LDL at all. So I switched to Vit D-3 @1000 iu, same results. Nothing I, or my Dr., has done has had a positive impact on my HDL being too low. It seems I'm stuck at 84x6 months now. I still take Vit D-3, since I have witnessed other improvements in my health that my Dr. attributes to it.
Since I have had bad reactions to the 5 Statins I was prescribed, I now take Niacin (Niaspan) and Omega-3 (fish oil). I’ve actually had results that matched my best Statin results, and no side effects.
Livalo is also a statin. I used it for about two months and had anomalies in my blood tests for liver and the kidney. Last test showed them lessening. I’m still aching from muscle pain due to taking Simvastatin. Man, I sure wish this would settle down.
Several solutions if you've just got to use them are: (1) Lower the dose to where you don't get the pain, (2) Check into the enzymes that will help you metabolize them, (3) Give up grapefruit or any other food or food byproduct that creates an overdose situation.
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