ARTICLES

PhytoChemicals

Plants are composed of proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, vitamins and minerals.  The other substances that make up the rest of the plant are referred to as phytochemicals (Phyto means plant). Plants make these chemicals to protect themselves from microbes, sunlight and many other dangers. These phytochemicals help us fight off illness in many ways. Some are anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antibacterial, antiulcer, anticancer etc. Each vegetable, fruit, nut or seed is packed with a different variety of these substances.  Therefore it is very important that a person eats a wide variety of these foods.

The ORAC score is the oxygen radical absorbance capacity.  Fruits and vegetables were ground up individually and free radicals of oxygen were added to the test tubes.  The amount of free radicals that were neutralized determined the ORAC score.  The higher the orac number the better the antioxidant qualities.  Oxygen free radicals are chemicals we produce and they circulate freely inside the human body.  Plant foods increase our ability to neutralize these free radicals before they can damage our cells. This is why they are considered anti- aging and disease fighting foods.   Therefore the more colors you have on your dinner plate the healthier you will be.

 

Remember – Most vegetables are best cooked by steaming.  In this way they retain most of their nutrients!

Cholesterol - The Double-Edged Sword

Cholesterol is more than a number that people seem to throw around at parties. Most people are not privy to what cholesterol does or what the numbers mean. I will attempt to explain what cholesterol does and what the numbers mean with regard to your health. Now let us begin the molecular journey.

Every time I hear someone refer to LDL as bad cholesterol, I cringe. The body cannot survive without cholesterol. Let us first begin with the terms you need to know. LDL stands for low density lipoprotein. All lipoproteins contain the following particles, differing only by the amount of these substances which each contains. LDL cholesterol is approximately 46% cholesterol, 24% protein, 10% triglycerides and 20% phospholipids. From this data, one can see that LDLs are mostly cholesterol. Cholesterol is needed for the following:

• Vitamin D synthesis

• Hormone synthesis ( Testosterone, Progesterone, DHEA etc.)

• Corticosteroids

• Cell membranes

• Precursor to the bile acids

Cholesterol becomes dangerous when it loses electrons (becomes oxidized) and attacks your blood vessel walls looking to replace the missing electrons.

Over the past few years, it has been established that there is more than one type of LDL cholesterol. Researchers have identified four types of LDL, two of which are damaging. These two types are the minimally oxidized and the oxidized LDL, which are looking to replace the electrons they have lost. When LDL cholesterol becomes oxidized, it accumulates along the arterial walls where it is eaten by white blood cells known as macrophages. Once these cells have made gluttons of themselves, they are referred to as foam cells. These foam cells then burst and release the cholesterol as fatty streaks. This causes a traffic jam in the arteries by influencing other immune factors such as platelets to enter the area. These factors lead to the formation of a condition known as atherosclerosis. This is a condition where the artery has cholesterol streaks deposited and this clogs the area by reducing blood flow. When the artery becomes completely blocked, it is called an infarction. If this happens in the coronary arteries, it is called a myocardial infarction or a heart attack.

Cholesterol in the arteries becomes oxidized or loses electrons when it comes into contact with different types of free radicals. Free radicals are molecules that have lost electrons (oxidized) and are looking to replace them. These substances are given names like super oxide radical, hydroxyl radical, lipid radical and numerous others. As stated previously, we need cholesterol to live and the body itself makes one gram a day besides what we ingest through our diet, which is approximately 20%. The liver, small intestine and peripheral tissues make the remainder of the cholesterol. Most of the cholesterol is synthesized in the liver. By now you realize that LDL cholesterol is a double-edged sword and it has good and bad properties. Let us continue on this journey and look at the two other types of cholesterol that should be checked on a lipid profile.

HDL stands for High Density Lipoprotein, which is 55% protein, 17% cholesterol, 24% phospholipid and 4% triglyceride. I like to think of HDLs as garbage trucks because they travel the body picking up the LDL cholesterol not needed by the cells, and they return it to the manufacturing plant, or the liver. HDLs have different forms. One is the thin disk, and when acted upon by an enzyme called LCAT (Lecithin Cholesterol Acyl Transferase), it becomes a larger spherical form that can hold more LDL cholesterol. The enzyme LCAT requires copper for its activity. HDLs have a half-life of eleven hours, which means half of them will be destroyed in that time period. The liver, ovaries (in women) and adrenals are responsible for the metabolism of the rest. The adrenals require a great deal of LDL, because the cholesterol is needed at this site for the production of hormones.

The last type of cholesterol we will look at is the VLDL or the Very Low Density Lipoprotein. VLDLs are 50%-53% triglycerides, 19% cholesterol, 10% protein and 18% phospholipid. Triglycerides made in the liver are put into these packages called VLDLs. These VLDLs are transported throughout the body where triglycerides are removed and used by the cells for energy. The VLDL then returns to the liver where it is repackaged and becomes an LDL, which is mostly cholesterol. The LDL travels to cells and releases its components. Whatever the cell does not use is taken up by the HDLs and transported back to the liver.

Cholesterol regulation is complex and depends on a sophisticated feedback mechanism between dietary intake and the body's ability to regulate the enzyme HMG-CoA reductase. This enzyme is key to the production of cholesterol in the body. When excess dietary cholesterol is ingested through the diet, the liver receives a message to stop producing cholesterol. This occurs because a gene that makes this enzyme is down regulated or turned off. Think of genes like a light switch. If they are off, the light does not go on, and vice versa. Therefore, if the body senses that extra cholesterol has been absorbed and it turns off this gene that makes HMG-CoA reductase then cholesterol synthesis stops. This is the reason many studies demonstrate that eating extra cholesterol has no significant effect on the levels in the blood called serum cholesterol. In the Framingham study and the Lipid Research Clinic's - (Research Prevalence Study), dietary cholesterol had no significant effect on cardiovascular deaths.

There are some individuals for whom dietary cholesterol is important. These individuals have a condition known as familial hypercholesterolemia. The condition results when cells are either missing LDL receptors or these receptors are abnormal. When the body senses that the cells are not getting enough cholesterol, it increases cholesterol production. An individual with this condition may have a serum cholesterol of 300-600mg/100ml.

Trans fatty acids, most often found in cookies, cakes, crackers, margarine and most processed foods, are not required in the human diet. Molecularly, these fats have a different arrangement of their hydrogen molecules and form straight structures that do not bend. Therefore, they can be stacked on top of each other, clogging up the body. They are used in the food industry because they are stable and the products can last indefinitely. You need to be alerted to the buzzwords partially hydrogenated, which is a trans fat and hydrogenated, which is a saturated fat. Both of these fats lead to a rise in cholesterol levels by increasing the amount of VLDLs made by the liver. Therefore, it is imperative that you decrease these fats in your daily diet if you want to control your cholesterol levels.

Cholesterol may be lowered by the addition of soluble fiber. Soluble fibers are contained in beans, oats, fruits (cherries and apples), rye and barley. They increase the fecal excretion of bile, which contains cholesterol. They also decrease lipid absorption in the intestinal tract.

Soy protein has demonstrated the ability to lower total cholesterol and increase HDL cholesterol. The improved ratio between LDL / HDL cholesterol helps decrease arterial plaque. To achieve this effect, you must use 20 to 30 grams of soy protein in your diet. Soy prevents the oxidation of LDL cholesterol and therefore acts as an antioxidant. Antioxidants are necessary to prevent the oxidation of cholesterol. They should be considered as members of an orchestra. What would Tchaikovsky's Overture of 1812 be without the percussion section? Antioxidants work in the same way. Different antioxidants affect different areas of the body. Vitamin E works in the cell membrane area that is heavily fats. Vitamin C works in water-soluble areas of the body. Therefore, you must have an abundance of different antioxidants to protect you from LDL oxidation. Vitamin C protects the LDL cholesterol from oxidative damage. Quercitin protects LDL cholesterol from oxidative damage as well. Quercitin can be found in apples, onions and black tea.

As I have shown, cholesterol is necessary for life. It only becomes a problem when our bodies become out of balance with respect to increased oxidation. There are many ways to control cholesterol, both nutritionally and pharmaceutically. It is up to you and your health care practitioner to determine the best modality.

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