Healthy Options for Lowering Cholesterol
In their enthusiasm to reduce premature deaths from heart attack and stroke, the authors of the new cholesterol guidelines are recommending that millions of Americans start taking statin drugs. This recommendation ignores the danger of potential side effects from the long term use of statins. Would informed health consumers willingly choose to lower their risk of cardiovascular disease if it meant substantially increasing their chances of developing health problems?
In a recent opinion piece published in the Washington Post, Dean Ornish, MD, clinical professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and president of the nonprofit Preventive Medicine Research Institute, wrote, "As tens of millions of people begin taking these medications for decades, more long-term side effects are likely to become apparent." Dr. Ornish also questioned why the panel failed to recommend other options, such as diet and lifestyle changes, that for most people "can be a safe and effective alternative to a lifetime of cholesterol-lowering drugs."
One of the newest and most effective alternatives to statin drugs is a patented, proprietary formula comprising citrus and palm fruit extracts that contain polymethoxylated flavones and tocotrienols. It has been shown in human trials to significantly reduce total cholesterol, LDL, and triglycerides. Additionally, the powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of the extracts in this natural formulation (trademarkded under the name Sytrinol) are known to contribute to managing additional cardiovascular disease risk factors.
Tangerine Flavonoids Safer than Statins:
Flavonoids are natural plyphenolic compounds found in a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. More than 4,000 different flavonoids have been identified, and many of these have been shown to exert biological effects in humans. Bioflavonoids from citrus fruits such as oranges, tangerines, and grapefruit have been found to reduce oxidative drug metabolism, inhibit it chemical carcinogenesis and tumor development, and exert anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic effects. Additionally, epidemiological studies have shown that consumption of dietary flavonoids, is strongly associated with reduced incidence of cardiovascular disease and cancer in humans.
Many flavonoids, such as rutin and hesperidin, exert cardiovascular-protective effects by inhibiting oxidation of LDL, reducing inflammation, enhancing endothelial function, and reducing thrombosis. Recently, a subset of flavonoids known as polymethoxylated flavones have been shown to possess especially potent anti-cancer, immunosupportive, and cardioprotective benefits. Polymethoxylated flavones —flavonoid compounds derived from the peels of oranges, tangerines, and other citrus fruits—are highly methoxylated and contain biologically active molecules with unique metabolic properties. Two of the most-researched polymethoxylated flavones are nobiletin and tangerine.
Nobiletin was first isolated from orange peels in 1938. Intrigued by the anti-cancer benefits associated with the consumption of citrus fruit, researchers first examined nobiletin as a potential chemopreventive compound. Early studies revealed that nobiletin significantly inhibits production of nitric oxide and superoxide, two powerful free radicals involved in promoting inflammation and cancer. In one study, nobiletin was shown to suppress several stages of skin inflammation required for tumor initiation and growth. Nobiletin has also been shown to inhibit the proliferation of human gastric cancer cells (metastases) in mice, leading the study authors to suggest that the compound "may be a candidate anti-metastatic drugs for prevention of peritoneal dissemination of gastric cancer."
Nobiletin likewise has been shown to be a powerful anti-inflammatory agent. Atherosclerosis is now recognized to be an inflammatory process, partially explaining why half of all heart attacks occur in people with "normal" cholesterol levels. While popular non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as Celebrex and Vioxx, reduce inflammation by blocking the enzyme cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), Vioxx has recently come under scrutiny for possibly increasing the risk of cardiovascular events. Through its effects in reducing inflammation, nobiletin may help to protect cardiovascular health.
In a recent opinion piece published in the Washington Post, Dean Ornish, MD, clinical professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and president of the nonprofit Preventive Medicine Research Institute, wrote, "As tens of millions of people begin taking these medications for decades, more long-term side effects are likely to become apparent." Dr. Ornish also questioned why the panel failed to recommend other options, such as diet and lifestyle changes, that for most people "can be a safe and effective alternative to a lifetime of cholesterol-lowering drugs."
One of the newest and most effective alternatives to statin drugs is a patented, proprietary formula comprising citrus and palm fruit extracts that contain polymethoxylated flavones and tocotrienols. It has been shown in human trials to significantly reduce total cholesterol, LDL, and triglycerides. Additionally, the powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of the extracts in this natural formulation (trademarkded under the name Sytrinol) are known to contribute to managing additional cardiovascular disease risk factors.
Tangerine Flavonoids Safer than Statins:
Flavonoids are natural plyphenolic compounds found in a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. More than 4,000 different flavonoids have been identified, and many of these have been shown to exert biological effects in humans. Bioflavonoids from citrus fruits such as oranges, tangerines, and grapefruit have been found to reduce oxidative drug metabolism, inhibit it chemical carcinogenesis and tumor development, and exert anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic effects. Additionally, epidemiological studies have shown that consumption of dietary flavonoids, is strongly associated with reduced incidence of cardiovascular disease and cancer in humans.
Many flavonoids, such as rutin and hesperidin, exert cardiovascular-protective effects by inhibiting oxidation of LDL, reducing inflammation, enhancing endothelial function, and reducing thrombosis. Recently, a subset of flavonoids known as polymethoxylated flavones have been shown to possess especially potent anti-cancer, immunosupportive, and cardioprotective benefits. Polymethoxylated flavones —flavonoid compounds derived from the peels of oranges, tangerines, and other citrus fruits—are highly methoxylated and contain biologically active molecules with unique metabolic properties. Two of the most-researched polymethoxylated flavones are nobiletin and tangerine.
Nobiletin was first isolated from orange peels in 1938. Intrigued by the anti-cancer benefits associated with the consumption of citrus fruit, researchers first examined nobiletin as a potential chemopreventive compound. Early studies revealed that nobiletin significantly inhibits production of nitric oxide and superoxide, two powerful free radicals involved in promoting inflammation and cancer. In one study, nobiletin was shown to suppress several stages of skin inflammation required for tumor initiation and growth. Nobiletin has also been shown to inhibit the proliferation of human gastric cancer cells (metastases) in mice, leading the study authors to suggest that the compound "may be a candidate anti-metastatic drugs for prevention of peritoneal dissemination of gastric cancer."
Nobiletin likewise has been shown to be a powerful anti-inflammatory agent. Atherosclerosis is now recognized to be an inflammatory process, partially explaining why half of all heart attacks occur in people with "normal" cholesterol levels. While popular non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as Celebrex and Vioxx, reduce inflammation by blocking the enzyme cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), Vioxx has recently come under scrutiny for possibly increasing the risk of cardiovascular events. Through its effects in reducing inflammation, nobiletin may help to protect cardiovascular health.
posted by Stan Kent at
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