Balancing cholesterol naturally (Part 2)

Tangerine peel extract

Last week I introduced the health benefits of compounds extracted from tangerine peel. These compounds are called polymethoxylated flavones, fortunately abbreviated to PMF’s. They may well be one of the most important food compounds for your heart. The most biologically active are nobiletin and tangeritin– both extracted from tangerine skins.

It fascinates me that compounds that have a specific function in plants can have different benefits for human health. Flavones are yellow coloured molecules used by plants to colour their flowers to make them more attractive to pollinating insects.  When we consume food or supplements with flavones they take on a variety of incredibly healthy properties.

While research into PMF’s is continuing, there is evidence that these compounds have several benefits for heart health.  Deep in your liver tissues are a series of enzymes that create the cholesterol we need. For a variety of reasons these enzymes can become imbalanced producing more cholesterol than we need.

Clinical trials over 3 months with Sytrinol ®, a blend of nobiletin and tangeritin PMF’s plus tocotrienols (read below) showed significant improvements in cholesterol balance especially the very important ratio between LDL and HDL cholesterol.

Statin intolerance

Statin cholesterol medications are very effective at blocking the specific enzyme needed to make cholesterol and usually significantly reduce cholesterol levels. However there are a large group who cannot tolerate the side especially muscle pain, low energy, changes in mood, memory and generally have less mental clarity. There are also others who prefer to use natural solutions over prescribed medications.

If you are taking statins to lower your cholesterol, I advise you to take a high quality, naturally fermented Co enzyme Q10 such as my CoQsol ®. This is because statins reduce both cholesterol and Co enzyme Q10. Low CoQ10 shows in muscle weakness/pain, general lethargy, mental dullness and poor moods.

Vitamin E is critical for heart health

If I had to choose just one group of nutrients with the greatest impact on heart health it would be the wider vitamin E family. This is where things get a bit technical but bear with me. There 2 groups of vitamin E compounds, the tocopherols and tocotrienols.

Each comprises of alpha, beta, delta and gamma tocopherols and tocotrienols making 8 in total. We get vitamin E from nuts, seeds, some plant oils and brown rice. Red Palm kernel is by far the richest source of tocotrienols

Tocotrienols

In the past decade there has been significant research into vitamin E tocotrienols. These are powerful antioxidants but have another important function in helping balance cholesterol levels by helping control liver cholesterol production.

Unfortunately our diets are very low in tocotrienols which increases heart disease risk especially in those with a combination of high cholesterol and high levels of background inflammation.Research back into the 1990’s showed that tocotrienols naturally regulate the enzyme responsible for cholesterol production. As a result, tocotrienols have a significant benefit for those with high cholesterol and those with higher heart disease risk. This is great news for people who cannot tolerate statin cholesterol medications or for those who prefer a natural approach.

My favourite natural cholesterol balancing supplement is Sytrinol ® which combines the tocotrienols complex Tocomin® with tangerine PMF’s to make what I believe to be the only natural product that really addresses the dangers of cholesterol imbalance and general cardiovascular health.

An excellent online resource for tocotrienols is http://www.tocotrienol.org/

Sytrinol ®

For those who prefer natural methods to balance cholesterol I recommend a 3 month trial of Sytrinol ® followed with a cholesterol test to determine your progress. For best results I prefer to combine a low sugar and refined carbohydrate diet with Cell-X and Omega 3. Give me a call or email if you need further information or a personalised heart health programme.

John Arts (B.Soc.Sci, Dip Tch, Adv.Dip.Nut.Med.) is a nutritional medicine practitioner and founder of Abundant Health. If you have questions or need help you can contact John 0800 423559.  You can email John at john@abundant.co.nz.

Please note that the health advice given through this column is for general educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose or treat any health problem. © John Arts 2020