A Good Heart

For years, doctors' obsession with lowering cholesterol to prevent heart disease is causing more harm than good.


The fact is, your high cholesterol may be protecting you from cancer.


A new study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology revealed that driving down cholesterol levels actually increases the risk of cancer.


Researchers at the Tufts University School of Medicine found that among people taking "statin" drugs - like Lipitor and Zocor - there was a higher rate of cancer. Although the link between the drugs and cancer wasn't clear, there was no doubt that drastically low cholesterol levels correlated to cancer risk.


The big drug makers continue to sell the notion that the best way to fight heart disease is to lower LDL levels, the so-called "bad" cholesterol.


Yet 75 percent of people who suffer heart attacks have normal cholesterol levels.


It makes sense that low cholesterol levels are linked to cancer because cholesterol is one of your body's basic building blocks. You need it to produce testosterone, to build and repair cell membranes, and to preserve your nerve cells through the formation of the protective "sheaths" that cover them.


As long as you have a high HDL count - 75 to 80, for example - it doesn't matter whether your total cholesterol is 150 or 350. A high HDL will always keep your risk of heart disease extremely low.


Consume natural fats. Avoid processed or fast foods containing "trans" fats - these man-made substances were never meant for consumption, and your body doesn't know what to do with them. They wind up clogging your arteries and putting you on the fast track to heart disease.