{"product_id":"paul-d-thompson-lower-cholesterol-1","title":"How can I lower my cholesterol? 1","description":"\u003ch1\u003eLowering LDL Cholesterol: Genetics, Dietary Changes, and Statins\u003c\/h1\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eJump To Section\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"#genes-and-cholesterol\"\u003eGenes and cholesterol levels\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"#dietary-changes\"\u003eDietary changes to lower cholesterol\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"#saturated-fat\"\u003eSaturated fat and food preparation\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"#diet-and-statins\"\u003eLDL reduction with diet and statins\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"#treatment-without-blame\"\u003eCholesterol treatment without blame\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"#full-transcript\"\u003eFull Transcript\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"genes-and-cholesterol\"\u003eGenes and cholesterol levels\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLowering cholesterol is not simply a matter of willpower. In this interview with Dr. Anton Titov, MD, cardiologist Dr. Paul D. Thompson, MD, opens with a joke: the best approach is to pick the right parents. His point is that genes strongly influence blood cholesterol levels. He adds that the response to dietary changes is probably partly genetic too.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat distinction matters to his explanation. Diet can help, but Dr. Thompson does not present it as a way to erase an inherited tendency toward high cholesterol. He turns instead to the choices people can make when their starting levels are high.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"dietary-changes\"\u003eDietary changes to lower cholesterol\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDietary changes are the first practical option Dr. Thompson discusses. He favors a vegetarian diet and describes a vegan diet as an even stronger dietary change for lowering cholesterol. For people who do not want either approach, he describes an alternative built around vegetarian foods and seafood.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHis memorable description is to eat everything from the sea except the cow that fell in. He includes lobster, clams, and mussels in that discussion, then shifts attention from the seafood itself to what is served with it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"saturated-fat\"\u003eSaturated fat and food preparation\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSaturated fat is the next focus of Dr. Thompson's dietary advice. Butter added to seafood is his example of how food preparation can change a meal. For people who do not follow his vegetarian-and-seafood approach, he emphasizes reducing saturated fat.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe describes saturated fats from animal milk and meat and contrasts them with polyunsaturated fats found largely in vegetables and vegetable oils. As a practical illustration, he notes that saturated fat tends to be hard at room temperature and particularly when refrigerated.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"diet-and-statins\"\u003eLDL reduction with diet and statins\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLDL reduction with medication can be larger than the change Dr. Thompson describes with diet. In this segment, he gives an estimate of about an 8 or 10% LDL reduction with a reasonably good diet, compared with about 35% from a starting statin dose. These are the estimates he uses in the interview, not a prediction of an individual patient's response.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDr. Thompson says he has studied statins since 1990, when his group wrote its first research article on statin-associated muscle side effects. Here, his emphasis is on the cholesterol-lowering effect of medication rather than a detailed discussion of side effects or a comparison of specific prescriptions.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"treatment-without-blame\"\u003eCholesterol treatment without blame\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCholesterol treatment should not become a test of personal virtue, in Dr. Thompson's view. He argues that the arteries do not distinguish between a cholesterol reduction achieved through diet and exercise and one achieved through medication. His conclusion brings the discussion back to inherited biology: needing medication is not, by itself, evidence that someone has failed to work hard enough on their diet.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"full-transcript\"\u003eFull Transcript\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDr. Anton Titov, MD:\u003c\/strong\u003e How do I lower my cholesterol?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDr. Paul D. Thompson, MD:\u003c\/strong\u003e The best way to lower your cholesterol is to pick the right parents, because so much of what happens with your blood cholesterol level is dependent on your genes. Also, even the response to diet is probably partly genetically determined. So if you happen to pick the wrong parents, you are left with high cholesterol levels.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDr. Paul D. Thompson, MD:\u003c\/strong\u003e One of the things you can do if you get the wrong parents is try to lower it as best you can by diet. Diet has some effect, but it is not as effective as getting good genes. So what sort of a diet should you follow?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDr. Paul D. Thompson, MD:\u003c\/strong\u003e Being a vegetarian, if you can be a vegan, that is even better, but being a vegetarian is really the best dietary change you can make to lower your cholesterol. If you cannot be a vegetarian or vegan, what I tell people is to be a vegetarian that eats everything from the sea except the cow that fell in. In other words, everything from the sea, even lobster and clams and mussels. It is not so much the lobster, the clams, and the mussels, but what you put on them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDr. Paul D. Thompson, MD:\u003c\/strong\u003e It is the butter you put on them. If you cannot be a vegetarian who eats everything from the sea, then eat the least amount of saturated fat possible. Now, what is saturated fat?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDr. Paul D. Thompson, MD:\u003c\/strong\u003e I remember S for stop, saturated fat, because saturated fat comes from the milk and meat of animals and it raises blood cholesterol levels. Polyunsaturated fats are fats that are largely from vegetables and vegetable oils. You can tell a saturated fat when you meet it because it tends to be hard at room temperature, and especially hard when it is in the refrigerator.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDr. Paul D. Thompson, MD:\u003c\/strong\u003e I always tell patients, and when I talk to the media or the public, I often say that I am a drug dealer. I am a drug dealer because you can get so much more about lowering cholesterol with the medications that we have, which are very safe. No matter what you read about statins in the lay press, I have studied statins since 1990, when we wrote our first paper on statin-associated muscle side effects.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDr. Paul D. Thompson, MD:\u003c\/strong\u003e So I tell people I am a drug dealer. Why? If you are pretty good with your diet, you often get about an 8 or 10% reduction in your LDL cholesterol.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDr. Paul D. Thompson, MD:\u003c\/strong\u003e If you start on the introductory dose, the lowest dose of statin, you get about a 35% reduction in LDL cholesterol. Medicine is not some sort of a morality play.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDr. Paul D. Thompson, MD:\u003c\/strong\u003e Your arteries do not really care whether you got your level low by hard work, diet, exercise, etc., or whether you got your cholesterol level low by a drug. So the best way to lower your cholesterol? Pick the right parents.\u003c\/p\u003e\n","brand":"Diagnostic Detectives Network","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48388453171356,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0599\/5449\/5644\/files\/2225145394-b695a28111c9dd71a27ce83b293ad4ce70fbc0df59708ad725a247acca021e55-d_1920x1080_288046c5-a07c-49ba-b966-1819b4fd1d69.jpg?v=1794435235","url":"https:\/\/diagnosticdetectives.com\/fi\/products\/paul-d-thompson-lower-cholesterol-1","provider":"DiagnosticDetectives.Com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}