Clear as a bell

Ronald Reagan was president, “The Cosby Show” came into our living rooms more than any other show on TV, fax machines were just landing in offices, and cholesterol became the root of evil.

It was about 15 years ago when the word “cholesterol” showed up on the national radar and soon became a buzzword for the health conscious. It was a big bandwagon – and everyone from the folks who box Cheerios to those who bottle Wesson jumped on it.

Since then we’ve received an education in cholesterol — finding out about the good and the bad, realizing that it’s sometimes used as an incorrect catchword for “saturated fats,” and finally recognizing that it’s not the cause of cardiovascular disease that we originally thought.

To all of that we can now add a new chapter to the long and winding tale of cholesterol.

A tangled net

Just last week the Georgetown University Medical Center announced the results of a laboratory study that sheds new light on the association between elevated cholesterol levels and Alzheimer’s disease.

Previous research has suggested that high cholesterol levels may increase the levels of a certain protein that is abnormally processed by people with Alzheimer’s disease. This abnormal processing sets off a chain reaction that causes a peptide to accumulate and form tangles that can kill brain cells.

The Georgetown research now shows that high cholesterol levels significantly increase the rate at which these tangles are formed. In addition, the researchers concluded that high cholesterol also increases the production of a different protein that transports cholesterol out of the cell. And while that’s a normal function, in this situation it results in an unfortunate increase of free cholesterol which has a toxic effect on nerve cells.

So what can you do today to address the risk of Alzheimer’s disease due to high cholesterol? To start with, a program of regular exercise can be an important step in keeping cholesterol levels in balance.

In previous e-Alerts I’ve told you about natural supplements like grapefruit pectin and tocotrienol vitamin E that can help lower your total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol levels. Another of the more promising supplements is arjuna, the ancient Ayurvedic herb that has been proven to lower cholesterol as much as 12 percent in just 30 days. You can learn more about this product or order arjuna by contacting Himalaya USA at 800-869-4640.

Another important level

We’ve talked at length about the importance of managing homocysteine – including an e-Alert I sent you last February with news about its relationship to Alzheimer’s (“One Thing You Can do to Protect Yourself from Alzheimer’s Starting Today” 2/19/02). Homocysteine is an amino acid that, like cholesterol, can be measured with a simple blood test. A large study from the Boston University School of Medicine revealed that a high homocysteine level can actually double your chance of developing Alzheimer’s or some other form of dementia.

The good news here is that supplements of vitamins B6, B12 and folic acid are effective in helping reduce your homocysteine level, and they are readily available in any health food or grocery store.

If you or someone you love is concerned about Alzheimer’s disease or showing symptoms, you should seek medical attention immediately. You’ve probably heard that Alzheimer’s involves disorientation, forgetfulness and irrationality, but true Alzheimer’s symptoms take those qualities to sometimes alarming extremes, such as putting common items in a terribly wrong place or wearing clothing that’s entirely inappropriate for a given situation.

For the rest of us, as we head into the decades of our lives where the risk of Alzheimer’s becomes a real factor, we now have new evidence that we can’t ignore: a combination of exercise and supplementation to lower cholesterol levels may be the key to maintaining cognitive health in the decades to come.
To Your Good Health,

Jenny Thompson
Health Sciences Institute

Sources:
“Function of b-Amyloid in Cholesterol Homeostasis: A Lead to Neurotoxicity”
Abstract P3-313, 2002 Annual Meeting of The Endocrine Society
“Elevated levels of cholesterol play an even greater role in development of Alzheimer’s, study shows” Press release, Georgetown University Medical Center

Copyright 1997-2002 by Institute of Health Sciences, L.L.C.