If your cholesterol has crept up over the years, your doctor may be screaming at you to take statins to fix the problem. We already know that statins can cause congestive heart failure. But now there is reason to believe that statins may disrupt your sex-hormone production and make you more susceptible to disease.
You already know your body makes cholesterol. Cholesterol is the simplest steroid molecule. All other steroids flow from cholesterol as the parent molecule. Other steroid hormones include cortisol, estrogen, testosterone, DHEA, and even vitamin D.
In the U.S., were seeing an epidemic of vitamin D deficiency. This epidemic is greatly increasing our susceptibility to diseases, such as prostate and other cancers.
At the same time, many older people sorely miss their youthful levels of steroid hormones. This is causing a myriad of problems that conventional medicine does not know how to treat.
Could there be a connection between the vitamin D deficiency and dropping steroid levels? I think so. And its quite possible your elevated cholesterol is involved. In fact, the evidence suggests that high cholesterol is simply your normal way to compensate for these problems.
I have to tell you before we go any further that what you are about to read has received almost zero attention in conventional medical journals. This is a case where they have no incentive to see this come to light. And a lot of incentive to hide it, as Ill explain later. As a result, there are not a lot of studies to support my assertions. But there are a couple of powerful studies that are not directly related. But when you see these studies and combine them with what we already know, the conclusions become very obvious. Ill present that evidence here and you can be the judge.
I told you a few months ago that sunlight converts some of your bloods cholesterol to vitamin D. Your adrenals and ovaries or testicles convert some cholesterol to other steroid hormones. But remember, the parent molecule is always cholesterol. If you do not have cholesterol, you also do not have vitamin D or steroid hormones.
Now consider these facts:
You have more cholesterol in your blood in winter months than summer. Those who have summer outdoor activities have lower cholesterol. (This also is associated with seasonal fluctuations in heart disease.) The question here is, Does cholesterol go up to make up for limited winter sunlight and conversion to vitamin D? If so, then higher cholesterol could be a symptom of vitamin D deficiency, not a statin deficiency.
And what about hormones? A Ukrainian journal reported in 2004 that restoring steroid hormones to youthful levels can dramatically lower cholesterol and lipid levels. Twenty-seven men and 46 women aged 25-81 had their steroid hormones and lipids measured. They were treated with bioidentical hormone replacement to raise their hormones to more youthful levels. They used DHEA, pregnenolone, testosterone, progesterone, and estrogen, depending on individual need.
All of the participants saw their total cholesterol levels drop after youthful hormone levels were restored. Total cholesterol dropped below 200 milligrams per deciliter in 61.6% of the group. Average cholesterol fell from 252 mg/dL before treatment to 192.8 mg/dL. Triglycerides dropped 35.5%. The men saw greater reductions than the women.
This suggests the question, Could higher cholesterol as you age be your attempt to provide more raw material for conversion to needed steroid hormones? If the conversion enzymes weaken with age, then more raw material (cholesterol) might be needed to get them going.
Ive seen this in my own life. You know I am a vegetarian. So I get very little cholesterol in my diet. Yet, on my Living Foods Diet, my total testosterone was high — off the scale, in fact — at 925. The upper lab reference range is 100 points lower. If the theory is correct, I should not need a ton of cholesterol floating around to make more testosterone. I also am outdoors a lot. I personally do not care to exercise indoors in a gym. Since I am outdoors a lot, I have a healthy tan and abundant vitamin D. Again, this should point to a lower need for cholesterol. And, indeed, my cholesterol was around 155 for 20 years. Only in the past year has it gone up to 168. (My HDL is 58 with a risk ratio of 2.9. The U.S. average is greater than 4.4).
Could your high cholesterol be a symptom of a need for more hormones or vitamin D? I cant tell you for sure. But the authors of the Ukrainian study seem to think so. If this is the case, the statin use epidemic could be fueling the vitamin D and hormone deficiency epidemics.
Has Big Pharma or the FDA considered any of this? I have not seen it, and I would bet my last dollar that the answer is a big fat NO! In fact, it would be to their advantage that it causes these problems. That way, their bottom line will go up when they peddle you more snake oil to try to fix the disasters that the statins caused.
Supplements in general help your body regulate itself to a more ideal and balanced metabolism. Chemical drugs (like statins), on the other hand, put a lead weight on the end of the teeter-totter. That forces your body to do some- thing it may not want to do, or that even might be harmful.
Before you embark on lowering your cholesterol with chemicals or even supplements, consider getting a test for steroid hormones (especially DHEA, estrogen, and/or testosterone) and vitamin D. High cholesterol could be a marker for steroid hormone (including vitamin D, which is really a hormone) deficiency. You could make that deficiency even worse by lowering your cholesterol by any means other than diet, but especially by statins.