Why would you have high cholesterol?

• Family history
• Unhealthy diet
• Inactivity
• Being overweight

If you think that you have any of these risk factors for high cholesterol, or you're having a hard time lowering your cholesterol with diet and exercise alone, you should get more information from your doctor about high cholesterol and CholestinEX. For 2 out of 3 adults with high cholesterol, diet and exercise may not lower cholesterol enough.¹ Ignoring high cholesterol may lead to heart disease. Talk to your doctor about managing your risk factors.

A 5-year clinical trial with over 4400 patients with heart disease found that lowering cholesterol can prevent heart attacks and reduce death in men and women who already have heart disease and high cholesterol. Researchers say that the following benefits could be expected if physicians were to treat their heart disease patients for the same 5-year period and lower cholesterol to the same extent.

For every 1000 patients,

• Forty people would be saved out of the 90 who would otherwise die from heart disease.
• Seventy of the expected 210 nonfatal heart attacks would be avoided.
• Heart procedures such as bypass surgery would be avoided in 60 of the 210 patients who would be expected to need these procedures.

The most recent report of the National Cholesterol Education Program identified low HDL cholesterol as a coronary artery disease risk factor and recommended that "all healthy adults be screened for both total cholesterol and HDL cholesterol levels" (Am. J. Cardiol., Nov. 1998, 82:9A, 13Q-21Q).

Landmark clinical studies in the past several years have demonstrated diminished mortality and first coronary events following lowering of low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. The Framingham Heart Study (a long-term research study) produced compelling evidence indicating that a low level of HDL cholesterol was an independent "predictor" of coronary artery disease (CAD).

Many community health organizations, local drug stores, and health food stores regularly provide low-cost or free cholesterol screening for those interested in monitoring their serum cholesterol. Seek the advice of a competent physician experienced in cholesterol management using dietary modification and nutritional supplements. A physician with this kind of background can also help with the substitution of nutrient-based cholesterol-reduction plans which may allow the reduction or elimination of prescription drugs. If you already have high blood pressure as well as high blood cholesterol (and many people do), your physician may also tell you to cut down on sodium or salt. As long as you are working on getting your blood cholesterol number down, this is a good time to work on your blood pressure, too.

Anyone who is seeking to use dietary supplements to lower high cholesterol must verify efficacy by having a cholesterol blood test 45 to 60 days after initiating a nutritional regimen. If supplements fail to work, cholesterol-lowering drugs should be considered. While blood testing is not mandatory for healthy people seeking to reduce their risk of heart attack or stroke, it is recommended that everyone have an annual blood test to establish a benchmark giving you the ability to monitor and optimize your life extension program.