That Quick Plugger Upper - Cholesterol

Part of what turns good cholesterol into the sticky, dangerous "gunk" that can clog up the works, is oxidative stress. You remember that puff of metabolic exhaust that happens as the cell burn fuel? Free radicals, an unavoidable by-product of natural processes in your body, turn cholesterol into the kind of gunk you don't want laying around in your blood vessels. But you have to eat! It is not only necessary for your survival, it is one of the pleasures of life!

But a steady supply of powerful antioxidants can zap those troublesome free radicals before they can do their dirty work. They provide the oxygen atoms that restabilize the molecules in the cholesterol so that it is not sticky enough to adhere to blood vessel walls and other places in the body where it tends to accumulate. The body can then use the cholesterol to do what it needs to do.

In fact, there was a very small study done in 2003, by a joint team of Israeli and U.S. researchers. They found that, on average, after one year, patients supplementing with 50ml (about 1.7 ounces) of a red type, high antioxidant juice daily showed a 35% decrease in the thickness of the "gunk" on the artery walls.

While the control group, which did not supplement with red type, high antioxidant juice , showed an average increase in the sticky cholesterol plaque of 9%. Once it starts accumulating in your body, the gunky cholesterol attracts more to itself because it is sticky.

The internet is full of reports on the horrendous side effects of statin drugs. If you are curious, just type ‘statin drugs’ into your search engine and the internet will enlighten you. My point is that your body needs cholesterol to function well. It does not need too much, nor does it need oxidated cholesterol.

The solution seems really simple and clear. By reducing oxidative stress in the body, the “bad” cholesterol doesn’t form in the blood vessel walls and other areas of the body. If the average person is getting between 1200 and 1700 ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorption Capacity) Units per day in their food intake to mop up free radicals and the body needs approximately 4000 ORAC Units to move the body into a repair state, then you obviously need more antioxidants. But, you also need the right kind. The red and blue/purple anthocyanins are among the most powerful antioxidants that work well with ‘de-gunking’ cholesterol.

The solution seems very clear, at least red and purple!