Cholesterol is a type of fat that your cells and tissues need for many functions, including making or repairing cellular membranes and manufacturing some hormones. It is also involved in many biochemical reactions. However, when your blood cholesterol level is too high, you are at increased risk for atherosclerosis, heart disease and stroke. Crestor is a drug that can be useful in keeping your cholesterol low, and pomegranate juice is a natural remedy that may also lower your cholesterol and reduce your risk for serious disease. Discuss consuming pomegranate juice and taking Crestor with your doctor to decide what is appropriate for you.
Lipoproteins
Cholesterol travels in your blood in a complex with protein called a lipoprotein. Low-density lipoprotein, or LDL, is often called "bad" cholesterol because it contributes to plaque, fatty deposits that build up on artery walls and potentially interfere with blood flow. This is particularly dangerous in the coronary arteries that supply the heart. High-density lipoprotein, or HDL, is sometimes called "good" cholesterol because it tends to remove excess cholesterol from the blood, carrying it to the liver where it is removed and broken down. The National Cholesterol Education Program recommends that your total cholesterol should be below 200 mg/dL, and that your LDL should be less than 100 mg/dL.
Crestor
Crestor is a cholesterol-lowering medication belonging to a class of drugs called statins. It lowers blood LDL levels and tends to increase HDL levels by reducing the activity of a liver enzyme called HMG-CoA reductase, which liver cells use to manufacture cholesterol. By suppressing this enzyme, Crestor slows cholesterol production and induces liver cells to take up LDL from your blood, lowering both LDL and total cholesterol. Crestor is generally effective and safe, although certain side effects such as headache, nausea, constipation or mild muscle pain occasionally occur. Several more-serious side effects may also appear, including severe muscle pain, tenderness or weakness, fever, fatigue or changes in liver or kidney function, but these are rare.
Pomegranate
The pomegranate tree produces a fruit containing hundreds of seeds surrounded by juicy red pulp that yields a clear red juice. The juice is rich in many compounds with biological activity, including flavonoids, tannins, anthocyanins and ellagic acid. These natural chemicals are potent antioxidants that help remove potentially damaging free radicals from your body. They also suppress oxidation of LDL, a necessary step in the formation of unhealthy arterial plaque, and they reduce inflammation, which may also contribute to arterial damage. Experts at the University of Maryland Medical Center summarize findings from both laboratory and clinical studies indicating that pomegranate juice slows plaque formation in laboratory animals, and it improves coronary artery blood flow and lowers blood pressure in human subjects, although larger full-scale clinical trials are still needed.
Recommendations
Pomegranate juice is generally considered safe when consumed at a rate of 8 to 12 oz. daily, although it might worsen diarrhea. Crestor and pomegranate juice appear to lower cholesterol through different mechanisms, although both alter levels of other enzymes that might affect muscle metabolism and cause muscle damage, as indicated in a case study published in "The American Journal of Cardiology" in 2006. The safety of consuming both Crestor and pomegranate juice has not been established as of 2011. Consult your doctor to discuss this issue before consuming pomegranate juice regularly.
References
- National Cholesterol Education Program: High Blood Cholesterol: What You Need to Know
- Drugs.com: Crestor
- Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center: Pomegranate
- University of Maryland Medical Center: Pomegranate
- "The American Journal of Cardiology"; Rhabdomyolysis Associated with Pomegranate Juice Consumption; A. Sorokin, et al.; September 2006
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