Cholesteral

[1ststater]

Are there any natural Chinese remedies other than diet and excerise to bring down cholesteral levels? Would accupuncture have a positive affect?

[mawali]

1. Diet (decrease input of 'bad' fats and increase' beneficial' fats)
2. Physical activity
3. Herbal TCM remedy like Shan Zha Jiang Zhi Wan (Pian).

It is always best to consult with your OMD practitioner because depending on the degree of high cholesterol, he can adjust the dosage based on his diagnosis (TCM).

To take herbal medicine alone while ignoring diet and exercise is not a good strategy!

[couch]

Also get more sunlight. :)

[Jack Squat]

For what it's worth, I agree with the previous 2 posts.

For my contribution:
More info would be helpful, such as
1) how old is the person
2) medical history, i.e. do they have any medical conditions besides hyperlipidemia
3) what are the lipid values currently

In general, increase essential fatty acids (fish oil, marine phytoplankton, etc) and reduce or eliminate animal products (meat, eggs, animal fats) from the diet. There are some good patents from Blue Poppy and Golden Flower Herbs that reduce cholesterol levels.

Jack

[TenTigers]

there is a tea called Bo Lay Cha, sometimes on the box it may say Bo Nay Cha, or Po Nay,and Foo Joy brand calls it The' Yunnan Bo Nay. It is served in most traditional restaurants if you ask for it. It is said that drinking Bo Lay Cha will reduce your cholestrerol. Many drink it with dim-sum to allow the body to clear the fat in fried foods.
I was ordering it in a dim-sum place in Chinatown, and the lady next to me told me that she had high chloresterol, and was taking lipitor(sp)
She went to Hong Kong, and forgot her meds, and was drinking bo lay every morning and lunch. When she returned home, her doctor asked her if she was dieting? No, or exercising?-nope, or taking her lipitor, Nada. He told her that her chloresstero; levels were down and she no longer needed the lipitor, and to continue doing whatever it was she was doing.
try it!

[Doc Stier]

I would second the recommendations given thus far for dietary supplementation, especially the use of an Omega 3 Fish Oil supplement, Cod Liver Oil supplement, or Garlic Oil and Extra Virgin Olive Oil supplementation.

Additionally, there are several highly effective Chinese herbal combination formulas for treating high cholesterol, but the most appropriate one of these formulas for your overall state of health and your specific condition is best determined by a professional specialist, particularly a Licensed Acupuncturist and Herbalist experienced in prescribing and preparing these Chinese herb formulations.

Many of the traditionally used formulas are now available from numerous manufacturers in tablets, gelatin capsules, or powdered form, such as the
SHAN ZHA JIANG ZHI PIAN combination mentioned in another post for one example, but a traditional simmer cooked decoction of the bulk herb formulation remains the most potent and quickly absorbed method of using the herbs, IMO.

A simple and safe self-help measure involves simply eating a piece of dried Angelica Root Slice (Radix Angelicae Sinensis or Tang-Kuei/Dang-Gui) everyday to lower high cholesterol. Try it. It is inexpensive to purchase and works very well!

The following link provides more detailed information regarding Oriental Medicine approaches to treating high cholesterol:

http://www.pacificcollege.edu/eZine/april_2005.html

Doc

[TenTigers]

bo lay cha is also known as pu-erh:

Drinking pu-erh tea is purported to reduce blood cholesterol[30]. It is also widely believed in Chinese cultures to counteract the unpleasant effects of heavy alcohol consumption. In traditional Chinese medicine, the tea is believed to invigorate the spleen and inhibit "dampness." In the stomach, it is believed to reduce heat and "descends qi".[31]

Pu-erh tea is widely sold as a weight loss tea or used as a main ingredient in such commercially prepared tea mixtures. Though there is as yet no empirically backed evidence as to how pu-erh might facilitate weight loss, there are widely proposed explanations include that the tea increases the drinker's metabolism, or that the high tannin content in the tea binds macronutrients and coagulate digestive enzymes, thus reducing nutrient absorption. Although evidence is still sparse, it has been shown that rats experience reduction in body weight, blood triglycerides, and blood cholesterol following a diet containing pu-erh tea.[32]

[Sicilian Tofu M]

I agree on dietary supplementation, but don't heat, cook ect Olive Oil it changes from unsaturated fat to saturated fat with heating+ add Magnesium and Niacin(as nicotinic acid) to your supplements. http://www.naturalproductsinsider.com/articles/431research.html
I do 500mg of each once a day after dinner.

[Xiao3 Meng4]

Eating nuts can lower cholesterol, say experts


Eating nuts may help lower cholesterol levels, US research suggests.

The review of 25 studies, involving nearly 600 people, showed eating on average 67g of nuts - a small bag - a day reduced cholesterol levels by 7.4%.

The US Loma Linda University team believes nuts may help prevent the absorption of cholesterol.

UK experts said the research showed nuts were an important part of a healthy diet, but warned against eating nuts covered in sugar or salt.

Previous work has indicated eating nuts regularly is beneficial, but the Archives of Internal Medicine study set out to put an accurate figure on the effect.

The people involved ate 67g of nuts a day on average, over a period of three to eight weeks.

As well as improving cholesterol levels, it also reduced the amount of triglyceride, a type of blood fat that has been linked to heart disease. However, the impact was least pronounced among the overweight.

It is not yet clear why nuts have this effect, although one suggestion is that it is down to the plant sterols they contain, which are thought to interfere with cholesterol absorption.

Lead researcher Joan Sabate said increasing nut consumption as part of a healthy diet should be recommended.

He added: "The effects of nut consumption were dose related, and different types of nuts had similar effects."

Ellen Mason, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, agreed, but she urged people to go for unsalted nuts.

"Apart from salted peanuts at the pub, nuts in sugary cereals or the traditional Christmas selection, nuts have been largely lacking in our diets in the UK," she added.

The study was carried out by independent researchers, although it was partly funded by the International Tree Nut Council Nutrition Research and Education Foundation.

[kfson]

My doctor of oriental medicine has me on 3 cups of tea a day (at meal) of Tienchi Ginseng (Pseudo Ginseng or San Qi).

I also drink 2-6 cups of tea a day of Gynostemma Pentaphyllum.

[Lee Chiang Po]

You really need to do some research into what makes fat. Fat can not metabolize into fat. Only carbohydrates metabolize into fat. What you consume in cholesteral is not metabolized into the body as cholesteral. Cholesteral is manufactured by your own body. It is a response to carbohydrate consumption, in the forms of sugars and starches that turn to sugars. They damage the arteries and cholesteral is manufactured to repair the damages. The low density cholesteral is the villian.
If you look at the human as an animal, you realize that only in the past 10,000 or so years have we been farming and producing large amounts of carbohydrates. Some carbs are good, some bad. If they are difficult to digest they are ok. Some cause you an insulin spike. This up and down causes type 2 diabetes. The human diet for hundreds of thousands of years, maybe millions, consisted of fish first, probably birds and small mammals close behind that, with fruits and nuts in season. Agriculture is realatively new on the scene, with the growing of huge crops of food items that we did not evolve to feed on.
If you trapped a panda, you would feed it a natural diet that it evolved to feed on, and you would not feed it breads or concentrated, processed sugars. You would avoid feeding it canned or bottled soda drinks and you would not feed it candies or hamburger buns and fried potatoes.
If you want to imagine just what would be best for you, imagine that you were placed out into the wild with only sharp sticks and rocks to gather food with. You would not find huge gardens of agricultural foods, and you would not find the grains to make breads, and you would have to feed primarily on roots, nuts, fruits, and of course, things you are able to catch or kill.
You can duplicate that diet easily at any grocery store.

[mawali]

Eating nuts can lower cholesterol, say experts

Technically true but nuts are extremely protein rich so watch the quantity.

[Xiao3 Meng4]

Technically true but nuts are extremely protein rich so watch the quantity.

I like protein.

Protein: Greek: "Of first importance."

If you're bored with the usual handful o' nuts 'n seeds, try grinding them and adding them to stuff like yogurts, dips and sauces.

[bodhitree]

He Shou WU & Hawthorn berries are simple/harmless supplementary herbs.

[mickey]

Greetings,

I noticed that some of you are making recommendations that will directly target cholesterol. But what about those that can work indirectly, and maybe more effectively, like chrysanthemum tea?


mickey