Kenn Ward wrote: : First off get your cholesterol checked by a doctor. Then try their : medicines. There is also the fact that some herbs enhance the effect : of the drugs or worse yet counteract the medicines. These being said : there are several different herbs that help lower LDL Cholesterol. A : diet high in fiber also helps lower LDL cholesterol. Celery has a lot : of fiber and also there was a study on rats that shows the 3-n-butyl : phtalide it contains lowered the cholesterol in rats by 7 percent. It : also lowered Blood pressure by 13%. People sensitive to salt should : be careful as it might do more harm than good. : : Evening Primrose Latin name: Oenothera biennis : : Evening primrose seeds contain a compound rarely found in plants : gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) which is an Essential Fatty Acid (EFA). : The GLA in evening primrose oil can lower cholesterol substantially. : In one Scottish study 79 people took 4000 milligrams of evening : primrose oil every day for three months. Their cholesterol levels : fell 31.5%. Cardiologists believe that for every 1 percent decrease : in LDL cholesterol, the risk of heart attack drops by 2%. So the : Scottish study participants risk of heart attack plummeted by more : that 60%
Are you sure that it is safe to take that much evening primprose oil and GLA? I ask this question because GLA is first broken down to DGLA. DGLA can be further converted into arachidonic acid, which is a precursor to pro-inflammatory prostaglandins and leukotrienes.
BTW, have you got a reference for the Scottish study?
Only if the highly unsaturated oil source has a very powerful antioxidant in it will it be "safe," at least in the short run. In the long-term, you risk AA release when cells get stressed. Then, LTB4 and PGE2 are released, and they will destroy your body. If you eat massive amounts of antioxidants, you may be able to control it, but how will you know? There is no evidence on this, only how dangerous PGE2, LTB4, etc. are. Mead acid gets made into LTA3 when cells are stressed, and LTA3 is considered very mild by comparison. When you need emergency medicine, go to the ER, don't subject your body to it when it is not necessary. Your body can only handle so much biochemical activity of this sort, then it will start to break down, especially when the youth-associated hormones begin to dissipate as you get into your 30s and early 40s. Also, note that even if something is supposed to have a powerful antioxidant in it, like squalene in olive oil, does not mean that it actually does, due to processing. And powerful antioxidants can interfere with normal cell function. Thus, as I have said here many times, you should just let your body do what it wants to - just don't subject it to major sources of stress, such as the highly unsaturated oils or oxidized cholesterol.
