According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, coronary artery disease is the leading type of heart disease in America. It can result in a myocardial infarction, or what is commonly referred to as a heart attack. There are several risk factors for this heart disease. Hypercholesterolemia, or high levels of cholesterol in the blood, is one of those risk factors. As of 2010, approximately one out of every six American adults has high cholesterol.
Lifestyle Changes
The CDC recommends several lifestyle changes as remedies for high cholesterol levels. It recommends that people who smoke, stop. Cigarette smoking damages the cells that line the inner wall of the arteries. As a result, fats and cholesterol can enter the arteries and accumulate. This leads to the development of plaques, or pockets of saturated fat and cholesterol that have a cap covering them. The arteries then become narrow and stiff. This is atherosclerosis. In addition, those who are overweight should lose weight. A diet low in cholesterol, trans fat and saturated fat lowers cholesterol levels. People should also exercise on a regular basis and include fiber in their diets.
Bile Acid-Binding Resins
Bile is a substance that breaks up fats. It is made by the liver and is concentrated and stored in the gallbladder or released into the small intestines. Bile is composed of cholesterol, water, lipids, bilirubin and bile salts. The bile salts are bile acids that have joined with certain proteins. The liver makes the bile acids from cholesterol. After bile breaks up fats in the small intestines, approximately 98 percent of the bile acids are sent back to the liver, so the liver can reuse them for bile, as explained by Gerhard Meisenberg, Ph.D., Professor of Biochemistry at Ross University School of Medicine in "Principles of Medical Biochemistry." Bile acid-binding resins are remedies for cholesterol because they bind to bile acids, so they are excreted. This forces the liver to make more bile acids from cholesterol, which then lowers the cholesterol levels. Cholestyramine, colestipol and colesevelam, medications used to lower cholesterol levels, are all bile acid-binding resins.
Fibric Acid Derivatives
Enzymes are proteins that speed up different processes in the body. The fibric acid derivatives stimulate an enzyme called lipoprotein lipase. As a result, LDL and triglyceride levels decrease. LDL is the "bad" type of cholesterol. Fenofibrate and gemfibrozil are fibric acid derivatives used as remedies for cholesterol.
HMG-CoA Reductase Inhibitors
HMG-CoA reductase is an enzyme whose full name is hydroxymethylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase. An HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor interferes with, or inhibits, this enzyme. The enzyme is needed for the liver to be able to make cholesterol, according to Anne Carol Goldberg, M.D., Associate Professor of Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in "The Merck Manual for Healthcare Professionals." The "statin drugs" are the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors: lovastatin, simvastatin, pravastatin, atorvastatin, fluvastatin and rosuvastatin.
Niacin
Niacin is another remedy for high cholesterol levels. Not only does it lower the levels of triglycerides and LDL, it raises the level of HDL, writes Robert Baron, M.D., Vice Chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine at the University of California in "Current Medical Diagnosis & Treatment." HDL is the "good cholesterol."
References
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: High Cholesterol. Understanding Your Risks
- "Current Medical Diagnosis & Treatment 2010"; Stephen McPhee, M.D., Maxine Papadakis, M.D.; 2010
- "Principles of Medical Biochemistry"; Gerhard Meisenberg, Ph.D., William Simmons, Ph.D.; 1998
- The Merck Manual for Healthcare Professionals: Dyslipidemia
