The Beginner’s Guide to Intermittent Fasting

November 08, 2013                            

Story at-a-glance

• Intermittent fasting can help teach your body to use the food it consumes more efficiently. For many different physiological reasons, fasting can help promote weight loss and muscle building when done properly
• Intermittent fasting means eating your calories during a specific window of the day, and choosing not to eat food during the rest. By cutting out an entire meal, you are able to eat MORE food during your other meals and still consume a caloric deficit
• During the “fasted state,” your body doesn’t have a recently consumed meal to use as energy, so it is more likely to pull from the fat stored in your body, rather than the glucose in your blood stream or glycogen in your muscles/liver
• Although not all calories are created equal, caloric restriction plays a central role in weight loss. When you fast (either for 16 hours per day, or 24 hours every few days), you are also making it easier to restrict your caloric intake over the course of the week

The following article is written by guest columnist Steve Kamb, whose views may not precisely reflect those of my own. To review my recommendations on intermittent fasting (IF), see the recommended reading listing at the bottom of this page.

By Steve Kamb, NerdFitness.com

“…But Tony the Tiger tells us that breakfast is the most important meal of the day!”  

This rule has become so commonplace throughout the health and fitness community that it’s readily accepted as fact:

“Want to lose weight? Make sure you start off with a healthy breakfast, so you can get that metabolism firing first thing in the morning! Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper.” 

“Want to lose more weight? Make sure you eat six small meals throughout the day so your metabolism stays operating at maximum capacity all day long.”

There are even studies that show those that eat earlier in the day lose more weight than those who ate later in the day or skipped a meal. So, eat breakfast to lose weight and obtain optimal health. Case closed… right? 

Maybe you’re not getting the whole story. As skeptics, what we need to ask: what if there’s science and research that promotes SKIPPING BREAKFAST (the horror! blasphemy!) for optimum efficiency, maximum muscle retention, and body fat loss? 

After firmly being on “Team Breakfast” for 28 years of my life, I’ve skipped breakfast for the past three months and might never go back to eating it. I want to share with you a concept about skipping breakfast (and other meals), and how your health will benefit as a result. This is a topic that is very controversial, as it turns a LOT of conventional wisdom on its head. This is why this article is filled with more sources and citations than Jim Carrey’s glove compartment.

What Is Intermittent Fasting?

Intermittent fasting is not a diet, but rather a dieting pattern. In simpler terms: it’s making a conscious decision to skip certain meals. By fasting and then feasting on purpose, intermittent fasting means eating your calories during a specific window of the day, and choosing not to eat food during the rest. Now, there are a few different ways to take advantage of intermittent fasting:

• Regularly eat during a specific time period. For example, only eating from noon-8 PM, essentially skipping breakfast. Some people only eat in a 6-hour window, or even a 4-hour window.  

• Skip two meals one day, taking a full 24-hours off from eating. For example, eating on a normal schedule (finishing dinner at 8PM) and then not eating again until 8PM the following day.

Now, you might be thinking: “okay, so by skipping a meal, I just eat less than normally overall, and thus I will lose weight, right?” Well, that’s partly true. Yes, by cutting out an entire meal, you are able to eat MORE food during your other meals and still consume a caloric deficit (which is an important for losing weight). However, as we already know that not all calories all created equal, the timing of meals can also influence how your body reacts.

How Does Intermittent Fasting Work?

With intermittent fasting, your body operates differently when “feasting” compared to when “fasting”: When you eat a meal, your body spends a few hours processing that food, burning what it can from what you just consumed. Because it has all of this readily available, easy to burn energy in its blood stream (thanks to the food you ate), your body will choose to use that as energy rather than the fat you have stored. This is especially true if you just consumed carbohydrates/sugar, as your body prefers to burn sugar as energy before any other source. 

During the “fasted state,” your body doesn’t have a recently consumed meal to use as energy, so it is more likely to pull from the fat stored in your body, rather than the glucose in your blood stream or glycogen in your muscles/liver.  

Burning fat = win. 

The same goes for working out in a “fasted” state. Without a ready supply of glucose and glycogen to pull from (which has been depleted over the course of your fasted state, and hasn’t yet been replenished with a pre-workout meal), your body is forced to adapt and pull from the only source of energy available to it: the fat stored in your cells! 

Why does this work? Your body reacts to energy consumption (eating food) with insulin production. Essentially, the more sensitive your body is to insulin, the more likely you’ll be to use the food you consume efficiently, which can help lead to weight loss and muscle creation. Along with that, your body is most sensitive to insulin following a period of fasting.  

Your glycogen (a starch stored in your muscles and liver that your body can burn as fuel when necessary) is depleted during sleep (fasting), and will be depleted even further during training, which can further increase insulin sensitivity. This means that a meal immediately following your workout will be stored most efficiently: mostly as glycogen for muscle stores, burned as energy immediately to help with the recovery process, with minimal amounts stored as fat. 

Compare this to a regular day (no intermittent fasting). With insulin sensitivity at normal levels, the carbs and foods consumed will see full glycogen stores, enough glucose in the blood stream, and thus be more likely to get stored as fat. Not only that, but growth hormone is increased during fasted states (both during sleep and after a period of fasting). Combine this increased growth hormone secretion, the decrease in insulin production (and thus increase in insulin sensitivity), and you’re essentially priming your body for muscle growth and fat loss with intermittent fasting. 

The less science-y version: Intermittent fasting can help teach your body to use the food it consumes more efficiently. For many different physiological reasons, fasting can help promote weight loss and muscle building when done properly.

Why Does Every Health Book Say ‘Eat 6 Small Meals a Day’?

There are a few main reasons why diet books recommend six small meals:

1. When you eat a meal, your body does have to burn extra calories just to process that meal. So, the theory is that if you eat all day long with small meals, your body is constantly burning extra calories and your metabolism is firing at optimal capacity, right? Well, that’s not true. Whether you eat 2000 calories spread out throughout the day, or 2000 calories in a small window, your body will burn the same number of calories processing the food. So, the whole “keep your metabolism firing at optimum capacity by always eating” sounds good in principle, but reality tells a different story.  

1. When you eat smaller meals, you’re less likely to overeat during your regular meals. I can definitely see some truth here, especially for people who struggle with portion control or don’t know how much food they should be eating. However, once you educate yourself and take control of your eating, I would argue most people find that eating six times a day is very prohibitive and requires a lot of effort. Along with that, because you’re eating six small meals, I’d argue that you probably never feel “full,” and you might be MORE likely to eat extra calories during each snack.

Although grounded in seemingly logical principles, the “six meals a day” doesn’t work for the reason you think it would (#1), and really only works for people who struggle with portion control (#2). 

If we want to think back to the caveman days, we’d have been in serious trouble as a species if we had to eat every three hours. Do you think Joe caveman pulled out his pocket sundial six times a day to consume his equally portioned meals? Hell no! He ate when he could, and his body adapted to still function optimally during the rest of the day. A recent study (highlighted by the New York Times) has done a great job of challenging the “six-meals-a-day” technique for weight loss. Martin from LeanGains points out two important quotes from the study:

“…The premise underlying the present study was that increasing meal frequency would lead to better short-term appetite regulation and increased dietary compliance; furthermore, it was hypothesized that these predicted beneficial effects of increased meal frequency could have resulted from more favorable gut peptide profiles, potentially leading to greater weight loss. Under the conditions described in the present study, all three hypotheses were rejected.”

“…We had postulated that increasing meal frequency would enhance the compliance to the energy restricted diet thus leading to greater weight loss, an effect possibly mediated by increased fullness. The present results do not support this hypothesis.”

Remember, the type of food you eat matters. Meal frequency is not nearly as important as the quantity and quality of food consumed. This study reached similar conclusions.

Why Intermittent Fasting?

• Because it works. Although we know that not all calories are created equal, caloric restriction plays a central role in weight loss. When you fast (either for 16 hours per day, or 24 hours every few days), you are also making it easier to restrict your caloric intake over the course of the week. This will give your body a chance to lose weight as you’re simply just eating less calories than you were consuming before.  

• Because it simplifies your day. Rather than having to prepare, pack, eat, and time your meals every 2-3 hours, you simply skip a meal or two and only worry about eating food in your eating window.  

• It requires less time (and potentially money). Rather than having to prepare or purchase three to six meals a day, you only need to prepare two meals. Instead of stopping what you’re doing six times a day to eat, you simply only have to stop to eat twice. Rather than having to do the dishes six times, you only have to do them twice. Rather than having to purchase six meals a day, you only need to purchase two.  

• It promotes stronger insulin sensitivity and increased growth hormone secretion, two keys for weight loss and muscle gain. This was already explained in the previous section with relevant sources, but intermittent fasting helps you create a double whammy for weight loss.

What Are the Drawbacks of Intermittent Fasting?

In my own experimentation, I have found very few negative side effects with Intermittent fasting. The BIGGEST issue I’ve found, and the biggest concern most people have, is that intermittent fasting will lead to lower energy, focus, and the “holy crap I am hungry” feeling during the fasting period. People are concerned that they will spend all morning being miserable because they haven’t consumed any food, and thus will be miserable at work and ineffective at whatever task it is they are working on. 

Yes, the initial transition from EATING ALL THE TIME, to intermittent fasting can be a bit of a jolt to your system. However, once you get through the transition, your body can quickly adapt and learn to function just as well only eating a few times a day: This study explains that in participants after 48-hours of fasting, ”cognitive performance, activity, sleep, and mood are not adversely affected in healthy humans by two days of calorie-deprivation.” 

“So why do I feel grouchy when I’m not eating breakfast?” In this nerd’s humble opinion, a good portion of the grumpiness is a result of your eating habits. If you eat every three hours, your body will start to get hungry every three hours as it learns and becomes used to expecting (and receiving) food every three hours. If you eat breakfast every morning, your body is expecting to wake up and eat food.
It turns out, quite a bit of it is mental. 

Once you retrain your body to NOT expect food all day every day (or first thing in the morning), these side effects become less of an issue (thanks to a substance our bodies produce called ghrelin). Think about it in caveman terms again. We certainly found ways to survive during periods of feast and famine, and that remains true today. It actually takes our bodies about 84 hours of fasting before our glucose levels are adversely affected. As we’re talking about small fasts (16-24 hour periods), this doesn’t concern us. 

AN IMPORTANT CAVEAT:  

Intermittent Fasting can be complex for people who have issues with blood sugar regulation, suffer from hypoglycemia, have diabetes, etc. If you fit into this category, I highly recommend you check with your doctor or dietitian before adjusting your eating schedule. I believe more research needs to be done for these particular cases and thus would recommend you do what works best for YOU.

Can I Build Muscle and Gain Weight While Intermittently Fasting? 

Absolutely!  

In fact, I have been intermittent fasting for the past three months or so while building muscle, with minimal increase to my body fat percentage. I still eat the same number of calories I was consuming before, but instead of eating all day long, I condense all of my calorie consumption into an eight hour window.

• 11 AM Work out with heavy strength training in a fasted state.
• 12 PM Immediately consume 1/2 of my calories for the day (a regular whole-food meal, followed by a massive Calorie Bomb Shake.)
• 7 PM Consume the second portion of my calories for the day in a big dinner.
• 8 PM – 12 PM the next day: Fast for 16 hours.

 

This method has been borrowed from one of the best resources on intermittent fasting and muscle building on the internet: LeanGains. In a different method, my friend Nate Green packed on a crazy amount of muscle while fasting for a full 24 hours on Sundays. I’m not kidding when I say this has revolutionized how I look at muscle building and fat loss. Ultimately, this method flies in the face of the typical “bulk and cut” techniques of overeating to build muscle (along with adding a lot of fat) before cutting calories to lose fat (along with some muscle) and settling down at a higher weight. I prefer this method to the bulk-and-cut technique for a few reasons:

• There’s far less of a crazy swing. If you are putting on 30 pounds and then cutting 25 to gain 5 lbs of muscle, your body is going through drastic swings of body mass. Your clothes will fit differently, you’ll have different levels of definition, and your body will wonder what"s going on.  

• You’re consuming less food and thus spending less money. Rather than overeating to put on 1 pound of muscle and 4 pounds of fat in a week or two, you’re aiming to eat exactly enough to put on 1 pound of muscle without adding much fat on top of it. Yeah, it’s a delicate balance, but there’s far less swing involved. You are just slowly, steadily, and consistently building muscle and strength over many months.  

• There’s never a need to get “vacation-ready”: we all want to look good naked, right? When you are just adding muscle, you don’t need to worry about getting your body ready before by drastically altering your diet (going on a miserable crash diet for a month). I like Anthony Mychal’s technique of never being more than two weeks away. Keep your body fat percentage low, build strength and muscle, and if you happen to notice your body fat creeping up, cut back on the carbs. Within two weeks you should be back at your preferred body fat percentage and can continue the muscle building process.

 

Does Intermittent Fasting Have Different Effects on Men and Women?

Yes, intermittent fasting does affect men and women differently. This article over on Paleo For Women goes extensively into the negative effects of intermittent fasting for women. This article on Mark’s Daily Apple does a fantastic job of breaking down the differences between men and women and how they are affected by intermittent fasting, ultimately explaining:

• “One study, which I’ve cited before as evidence of a benefit to fasting, found that while IF improved insulin sensitivity in male subjects, female subjects saw no such improvement. In fact, the glucose tolerance of fasting women actually worsened. Ouch.
• Another study examined the effect of alternate day fasting on blood lipids. Women’s HDL improved and their triglycerides remained stable; men’s HDL remained stable and their triglycerides decreased. Favorable, albeit sex-specific results.
• Later, both obese men and women dropped body fat, body weight, blood pressure, total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and triglyercides on a fasting regimen. These people were obese, however, and perimenopausal women were excluded from the study, so the results may not apply to leaner people or women of reproductive age.”  

Long story short: Yes, men and women will have different experiences with intermittent fasting; we’re all unique snowflakes (yep, even you), and your body will be affected by intermittent fasting differently than the person next to you. My best advice? Give it a shot, track your results, and see how things go!

 

Commonly Asked Questions About Intermittent Fasting

“Won’t I get really hungry?” As explained above, this is generally a result of the habits you have built for your body. If you are constantly eating or always eat the same time of day, your body can actually learn to prepare itself for food by beginning the process of insulin production and preparation for food. After a brief adjustment period, your body can adapt to the fact that it’s only eating a few times a day. 

Remember, your body’s physical and cognitive abilities aren’t diminished as a result of fasting. “Where will I get my energy for my workouts? Won’t I be exhausted and not be able to complete my workouts if fasting?” This was a major concern of mine as well.  

And for my first workout or two, it was very weird to not eat a heavy carb meal before training. However, after a few sessions, I learned that my body could certainly function (and even thrive) during my training sessions despite not eating a pre-workout meal. As Mark’s Daily Apple states:

Fasted training can actually result in better metabolic adaptations (which mean better performance down the line), improved muscle protein synthesis, and a higher anabolic response to post-workout feeding (you’ll earn your meal and make more muscle out of it if you train on an empty stomach).

That being said, I’m currently experimenting with a pre-workout BCAA supplement to see the effect it has on muscle creation. So far, so good, though I’m not sold on the necessity of the supplement yet. I’ll keep you posted. “I like the idea of fasted training, but I work a regular 9-5 and can’t train at 11AM. What am I supposed to do?” 

Martin from LeanGains lays out a few different options for you, depending on your training schedule. The best advice is to not freak out and overanalyze unless you are an elite athlete concerned with the absolute optimal performance at all time. If you’re just a normal guy or gal looking to drop a few pounds and get stronger, do the best you can. “Won’t fasting cause muscle loss?”  

Another big concern of mine, but it turns out… it was unfounded. We’ve been told by the supplement industry that we need to consume 30 g of protein every few hours, as that’s the most amount of protein our body can process at a time. Along with that, we’ve been told that if we don’t eat protein every few hours, our body’s muscle will start to break down to be burned as energy. 

Again, NOT TRUE! This study shows that our bodies are quite adept at preserving muscle even when fasting, and it turns out that protein absorption by our body can take place over many many many hours. Protein consumed in a shorter period of time has no difference on the body compared to protein spread throughout the day. “What about my body going into starvation mode from not eating?”  

Now, the thought process here is that when we don’t feed ourselves, our bodies assume calories aren’t available and thus choose to store more calories than burning them, eliminating the benefits of weight loss with fasting. Fortunately, this is NOT true. As Martin from LeanGains so eloquently explains (as you can tell, he’s good at this stuff):

“The earliest evidence for lowered metabolic rate in response to fasting occurred after 60 hours (-8% in resting metabolic rate). Other studies show metabolic rate is not impacted until 72-96 hours have passed.

Seemingly paradoxical, metabolic rate is actually increased in short-term fasting. For some concrete numbers, studies have shown an increase of 3.6% – 10% after 36-48 hours (Mansell PI, et al, and Zauner C, et al). Epinephrine and norepinephrine (adrenaline/noradrenaline) sharpens the mind and makes us want to move around. Desirable traits that encouraged us to seek for food, or for the hunter to kill his prey, increasing survival. At some point, after several days of no eating, this benefit would confer no benefit to survival and probably would have done more harm than good; instead, an adaptation that favored conservation of energy turned out to be advantageous.”

“This sounds crazy, I’m not gonna do it.” That’s cool. Are you losing body fat, building muscle, and getting a clean bill of health from your doctor? If you can say yes to those things, AWESOME. Keep doing what you’re doing, because it’s working. However, if what you’re doing ISN’T working, or you’re not getting the results you were hoping for, why not give it a chance? Hopefully the dozens of studies at least peak your curiosity. Self-experimentation is the best way to determine WHAT methods work for you.

 

Tips and Tricks About Fasting

Don’t freak out. Stop wondering: “can I fast 15 hours instead of 16?” or “what if I eat an apple during my fasted period, will that ruin everything?” Relax. Your body is a finely tuned piece of machinery and learns to adapt. Everything is not as cut and dry as you think. If you want to eat breakfast one day but not another, that’s okay. If you are going for optimal aesthetic or athletic performance, I can see the need to be more rigid in your discipline, but otherwise… chill out and don’t stress over minutiae. 

Expect funny looks. A few weeks back I had a number of friends staying with me, and they were all completely dumbfounded when I told them I didn’t eat breakfast anymore. I tried to explain it to them but received a bunch of blank stares. Breakfast has become so engrained in our culture that NOT eating it sounds crazy. You will get weird looks from those around you… embrace it. Stay busy. If you are just sitting around thinking about how hungry you are, you’ll be more likely to struggle with this. For that reason, I time my fasting periods for maximum efficiency and minimal discomfort:

• My first few hours of fasting come after consuming a MONSTER meal, where the last thing I want to think about is eating.
• When I’m sleeping: 8 of my 16 hours are occupied by sleeping. Tough to feel hungry when I’m dreaming about becoming a Jedi.
• When I’m busy: After waking up, 12 hours of my fasting is already done. I spend three hours doing my best work (drinking green tea and listening to PM, which is exactly what I’m doing while writing this article!), and then comes my final hour of fasting: training.  

I don’t have time to think about how hungry I am, because I keep my brain constantly occupied! Zero-calorie beverages are okay. As previously stated, I drink green tea in the morning for my caffeine kick while writing. If you want to drink water, black coffee, or tea during your fasted period, that’s okay. Remember, don’t overthink it – keep things simple! Track your results, listen to your body:

• Concerned about losing muscle mass? Keep track of your strength training routines and see if you are getting stronger.
• Buy a cheap set of body fat calipers and keep track of your body fat composition.
• Track your calories, and see how your body changes when eating the same amount of food, but condensed into a certain window.   

Everybody will react to intermittent fasting differently; I can’t tell you how your body will react. It’s up to you to listen to your body and see how making these adjustments change your body. Don’t expect miracles. Yes, intermittent fasting can potentially help you lose weight, increase insulin sensitivity and growth hormone secretion (all good things), but it is only ONE factor in hundreds that will determine your body composition and overall health. Don’t expect to drop to 8% body fat and get ripped just by skipping breakfast. You need to focus on building healthy habits, eating better foods, and getting stronger. 

This is just one tool that can contribute to your success… 

 

To Sum It All Up...

 

Intermittent fasting can potentially have some very positive benefits for somebody trying to lose weight or gain lean body mass. Men and women will tend to have different results, just like each individual person will have different results. The ONLY way to find out is with self-experimentation. There are multiple ways to “do” intermittent fasting:

• Fast and feast regularly: Fast for a certain number of hours, then consume all calories within a certain number of hours.
• Eat normally, then fast 1-2x a week: Consume your normal meals every day, then pick one or two days a week where you fast for 24 hours. Eat your last meal Sunday night, and then don’t eat again until dinner the following day.
• Fast occasionally: probably the easiest method for the person who wants to do the least amount of work. Simply skip a meal whenever it’s convenient. On the road? Skip breakfast. Busy day at work? Skip lunch. Eat poorly all day Saturday? Make your first meal of the day dinner on Sunday.

Remember: One of the Rules of the Rebellion is to QUESTION EVERYTHING. If this seems like something you’d like to try, give it a shot. If it sounds crazy to you, ask yourself why you think it sounds crazy, and do your own research and experimentation before condoning/condemning it.

 

About the author

Steve Kamb is the creator and owner of NerdFitness.com - a fitness community dedicated to helping nerds, desk jockeys, and average Joes level up their lives. In just over four years, Steve has taken Nerd Fitness from a simple one-man blog and developed it into a passionate “Rebellion” of over 100,000 loyal members and over one million monthly visitors.  

While running Nerd Fitness from his laptop, Steve has exercised and adventured all over the world, exploring the ruins of Machu Picchu and Angkor Wat, diving with sharks on the Great Barrier Reef, hiking the Great Wall of China, living like James Bond in Monte Carlo, tracking animals in South Africa, and guest lecturing at Facebook, Google, and TEDxEmory.

 

Recommended Reading List:

What the Science Says About Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent Fasting Shown to Improve Diabetes and Reduce Cardiovascular Risk
Intermittent Fasting Finally Becoming Mainstream Health Recommendation
Burn Away Fat Cells With This Simple Eating Trick
How Intermittent Fasting Stacks Up Among Obesity-Related Myths, Assumptions, and Evidence-Backed Facts

http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2013/11/08/beginners-guide-intermittent-fasting.aspx

Testosterone Therapy May Actually Increase Your Risk of ...

...  Stroke, Heart Attack and Death

November 22, 2013

Story at-a-glance

• After age 30, a man’s testosterone levels begin to decline and continue to do so as he ages, leading to symptoms such as decreased sex drive, erectile dysfunction, depressed mood, and difficulties with concentration and memory
• Conventional treatment for low testosterone revolves around synthetic testosterone hormone replacement therapy, using either a testosterone cream, gel or patch
• Recent research has raised a red flag, warning men that testosterone therapy may increase your risk of dying from a sudden stroke or heart attack
• The study found that testosterone use was associated with a 29 percent increased risk for an adverse event—regardless of whether they had underlying coronary heart disease or not
• Dietary and exercise changes, particularly limiting sugar/fructose, eating healthy saturated fats and engaging in high-intensity exercises, Power Plate, and strength training, can be very effective at boosting testosterone levels naturally

By Dr. Mercola

While primarily associated with the notion of “manhood” and the attributes this word conjures up, the androgenic sex hormone testosterone plays an important role in a man’s health and wellbeing over and beyond those related to sexual prowess. 

For example, testosterone helps your body maintain muscle mass, bone density, optimal lipid profiles and levels of red blood cells, and can impart a general sense of vigor and “youthfulness.” 

Around the age of 30, testosterone levels begin to decline. Symptoms of declining testosterone levels in men include decreased sex drive, erectile dysfunction, depression, poor concentration and impaired memory. Men with low testosterone levels may also experience weight gain, breast enlargement, and problems urinating. 

Conventional treatment for low testosterone revolves around synthetic testosterone hormone replacement therapy, using either a testosterone cream, gel or patch. 

However, recent research¹ has raised a red flag, warning men that testosterone therapy may increase your risk of dying from a sudden stroke or heart attack. The study in question does have limitations however, and more research is likely needed before any definitive conclusions can be drawn. 

That said, I believe it’s worth noting that there’s almost always going to be a significant difference between taking a synthetic hormone versus encouraging your body to produce more of a hormone naturally. I personally do not believe the risks are in any way comparable between these two strategies—both of which I’ll address below.

Are Men Putting Themselves at Risk by Misusing Testosterone? 

I know first-hand that low testosterone is not an automatic outcome of aging, provided you incorporate certain lifestyle strategies that can naturally boost your testosterone levels. 

Moreover, I firmly believe that naturally boosting your body’s production of testosterone (and other hormones) through lifestyle strategies such as exercise and diet will not be as likely to have negative impacts on your heart or longevity. On the contrary, these strategies are part and parcel of an overall healthy lifestyle, so they also automatically reduce your risk of most chronic disease, including heart- and cardiovascular disease. 

Unfortunately, many men who feel they’ve “lost the spring in their step” opt for the quick and easy route of hormone replacement therapy. Data from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) shows annual prescription rates for testosterone have increased more than five-fold between 2000 and 2011^{2, 3}. An estimated 5.3 million testosterone prescriptions were written in 2011. 

This dramatic increase is causing researchers to question whether men may be abusing the hormone,^{4, 5, 6} as professional guidelines only recommend testosterone replacement therapy for men who have symptomatic testosterone deficiency. 

According to the Endocrine Society, which is responsible for setting the clinical guidelines for testosterone replacement therapy, testosterone should only be given to men with persistent symptoms and “unequivocally low testosterone levels,” a condition known as hypogonadism. To determine this, you have to actually test your testosterone level, which is done with a blood test—ideally more than once, as your testosterone level can rise and fall during each day. Recent findings⁷ indicate that 25 percent of men given a prescription for testosterone did not have their levels tested prior to receiving a prescription, and of the remaining 75 percent, it was unclear as to how many actually had a testosterone deficiency.

Testosterone Therapy May Increase Mortality, Study Says 

The featured study,⁸ published in JAMA, noted that “a recent randomized clinical trial of testosterone therapy in men with a high prevalence of cardiovascular diseases was stopped prematurely due to adverse cardiovascular events.”  To further assess this potential link between testosterone therapy and heart attack, stroke and all-cause mortality, the researchers looked at more than 8700 men who underwent a coronary angiography⁹ (a test that checks for blocked arteries). They wanted to determine whether having underlying coronary artery disease might modify the outcome in men taking testosterone. 

Perhaps it’s just more risky to take testosterone if you already have heart disease?  That did not turn out to be the case, overall... All of the participants had a total testosterone level of less than 300 ng/dL. Of the 1,223 patients who started testosterone therapy after their coronary angiography, nearly 26 percent of them suffered an adverse event (stroke, heart attack and/or death) within three years. In the group that did not take testosterone, less than 20 percent had an adverse event. 

After adjusting for other differences between the groups, testosterone use was associated with a 29 percent increased risk for an adverse event—regardless of whether they had underlying coronary heart disease or not. The authors concluded that:

“Among a cohort of men in the VA health care system who underwent coronary angiography and had a low serum testosterone level, the use of testosterone therapy was associated with increased risk of adverse outcomes. These findings may inform the discussion about the potential risks of testosterone therapy.”

Other research¹⁰ published earlier this year found that testosterone replacement therapy did not appear to have any positive effects on the cardiovascular health of men who took it, noting that the “cardiovascular risk-benefit profile of testosterone therapy remains largely evasive.” Interestingly, the analysis does suggest that low testosterone and heart disease might both be caused by “poor overall health,” as stated by lead researcher, Dr. Johannes Ruige.¹¹ This, again, is why I recommend focusing your efforts on healthy lifestyle strategies such as exercise rather than taking synthetic hormone replacement, the risk/benefit ratio of which is still largely unknown...

 

Estrogen May Be Equally Important as Testosterone in Men 

Another thing to think about is this: Recent research¹² has found that there are significant individual variations in the amount of testosterone required for any particular man to maintain lean body mass, strength, and sexual function. Knowing this, it makes logical sense to allow your body to normalize and make what it needs for optimal health, rather than supplying it with an arbitrary dose of hormone thought to be ideal for men in general. 

Furthermore, researchers have now discovered that estrogen also plays an important role in many of the processes previously thought to be relegated to testosterone alone.^{13, 14} For example, they’ve determined that, in men, testosterone deficiency accounts for decreases in lean mass, muscle size and strength, while estrogen deficiency was the primary culprit when it came to increases in body fat. Both testosterone and estrogen were found to be important for sexual function, and a deficiency in either had a negative impact on the men’s libido. According to the lead author, Dr. Joel Finkelstein, an endocrinologist at Harvard Medical School:

“Some of the symptoms routinely attributed to testosterone deficiency are actually partially or almost exclusively caused by the decline in estrogens.” 

Despite individual variations, Dr. Finkelstein’s research offers valuable insight into the function and behavior of estrogen and testosterone at different levels in a man’s body. For example, they found that less testosterone is actually needed for muscle maintenance than previously thought. They also found that:

• In young men, the average testosterone level is about 550 nanograms per deciliter (ng/dl)
• Muscle size and strength does not become adversely affected until testosterone levels drop below 200 ng/dl, which has previously been considered extremely low
• Fat accumulation, however, increases at testosterone levels of 300-350 ng/dl, due to its impact on estrogen
• Libido increases steadily with simultaneous increases in testosterone and estrogen

Please note that men are NOT advised to take estrogen replacement therapy, as this could cause feminization, such as enlarged breasts. As your testosterone levels rise, your body will automatically produce more estrogen, so the key is to maintain your testosterone level—ideally by incorporating the strategies I discuss below.

You Can Raise Your Testosterone- and HGH Levels Naturally  

Personally, I do not recommend using testosterone hormone replacement. If you indeed have low testosterone, you can consider trans rectal DHEA cream. DHEA is the most abundant androgen precursor prohormone in the human body, meaning it’s the largest raw material your body uses to produce other vital hormones, including testosterone in men and estrogen in women. However, I believe most men don’t even need that, were you to take full advantage of your body’s natural ability to optimize hormones like testosterone and human growth hormone (HGH). Testosterone production follows a similar decline with age as HGH illustrated below.

 

Just like testosterone, your HGH levels also sharply decline after the age of 30. Both of these hormones are boosted in response to short, intense exercise. I personally do not take any hormone or prohormone supplements; rather I’ve been doing Peak exercises for just over three years, and at the age of 59, my testosterone- and HGH levels (listed below) are still well within the normal range for a young adult male without the aid of ANY prescriptions, hormones and hormone precursor supplements, clearly demonstrating it is possible to normalize these hormones using  these natural strategies:

• My total testosterone: 982 ng/dl (normal test range: 250-1,100 ng/dl)
• My free testosterone: 117 pg/ml (normal test range: 35-155 pg/ml)
• My HGH: 14,000 pg, more than three times the normal test range of 1,000-4,000 pg/24 hours

To Raise Your Hormone Levels, Exercise Intensely, but Briefly

Below is a summary and video demonstration of what a typical high-intensity Peak Fitness routine might look like. This type of exercise—short intervals of high intensity exertion followed by periods of rest—emulate the daily physical actions and movements of ancient man. This, researchers say, is what your body is hard-wired for. Keep in mind that high intensity interval training is the only type of exercise that will help boost your testosterone- and HGH levels.

A slow one-hour jog will not have this effect, so it’s critical to make sure you’re exercising correctly if you want to affect your hormone levels. The entire workout is only 20 minutes, and 75 percent of that time is warming up, recovering or cooling down. You're really only working out intensely for four minutes. It's hard to believe if you have never done this, that you can actually get that much benefit from only four minutes of intense exercise, but that's all you need!

• Warm up for three minutes
• Exercise as hard and fast as you can for 30 seconds. You should feel like you couldn't possibly go on another few seconds
• Recover at a slow to moderate pace for 90 seconds
• Repeat the high intensity exercise and recovery 7 more times

More Ways to Boost Testosterone and HGH  

Besides high intensity exercise, there are several other strategies that will also boost your testosterone levels naturally. These are appropriate for virtually anyone, male or female, as they carry only beneficial "side effects." I’ve listed four of my favorite strategies below. For even more tips, check out the slide show. More details can also be found in my previous article, 9 Body Hacks to Naturally Increase Testosterone.

• Weight training.  When you use strength training to raise your testosterone, you’ll want to increase the weight and lower your number of reps. Focus on doing exercises that work a wider number of muscles, such as squats or dead lifts. You can take your workout to the next level by learning the principles of Super-Slow Weight Training. For more information on how exercise can be used as a natural testosterone booster, read my article “Testosterone Surge After Exercise May Help Remodel the Mind.”

• Whole body vibration training (WBVT) using a Power Plate. In addition to the Peak Fitness exercises I do 10 minutes of Power Plate training twice a day and this likely also improved my hormones. WBVT in some ways simulate high intensity exercise by stimulating your white (fast-twitch) muscle fiber. This kick-starts your pituitary gland into making more growth hormone, which helps you build lean body mass and burn fat.  

• Address your diet. This is critical for a number of reasons. First of all, if you're overweight, shedding the excess pounds may increase your testosterone levels, according to recent research.¹⁵ Testosterone levels also decrease after you eat sugar. This is likely because sugar and fructose raises your insulin level, which is another factor leading to low testosterone. Ideally, keep your total fructose consumption below 25 grams per day. If you have insulin resistance and are overweight, have high blood pressure, diabetes or high cholesterol, you’d be well advised to keep it under 15 grams per day. 

The most efficient way to shed excess weight and normalize your insulin levels at the same time is to strictly limit the amount of sugar/fructose and grains in your diet, and replacing them with vegetables and healthy fats, such as organic pastured egg yolks, avocado, coconut oil, butter made from raw grass-fed organic milk, and raw nuts. 

Saturated fats are in fact essential for building testosterone. Research shows that a diet with less than 40 percent of energy as fat (and that mainly from animal sources, i.e. saturated) lead to a decrease in testosterone levels.¹⁶ My personal diet is about 70-80 percent healthy fat, and other experts agree that the ideal diet includes somewhere between 50-70 percent fat. I've detailed a step-by-step guide to this type of healthy eating program in my optimized nutrition plan.

• Intermittent fasting. Another effective strategy for enhancing both testosterone and HGH release is intermittent fasting. It helps boost testosterone by improving the expression of satiety hormones, like insulin, leptin, adiponectin, glucacgon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), cholecystokinin (CKK), and melanocortins, which are linked to healthy testosterone function, increased libido, and the prevention of age-induced testosterone decline.

Do You Really Need Testosterone Therapy? 

For most men, the answer to declining testosterone levels comes not from a prescription hormone replacement, but in the form of a healthy, active lifestyle.  If you’re still deficient in testosterone after implementing high intensity exercise and strength training, along with the recommended modifications to your diet and, ideally, intermittent fasting, then you could try trans-mucosal DHEA.  DHEA is a precursor hormone that is crucial for the creation of vital hormones, including testosterone and other sex hormones. 

For information on DHEA supplementation, please see my previous article Testosterone Decline: How to Address This Challenge to 'Manhood'. In it, you can also learn more about other helpful dietary supplements, and how endocrine-disrupting chemicals in your home and environment may adversely affect your hormonal balance. Personally, I’ve been able to maintain both testosterone and HGH levels comparable to that of men half my age, simply by implementing high intensity exercise and intermittent fasting, along with my standard dietary recommendations, which apply to everyone, regardless of age or sex. 

Clearly, low testosterone is not an inevitable fate for aging men, and you don’t have to risk your health by experimenting with synthetic hormones in order to maintain youthful levels. Even if you believe the risks to your heart are small (although I personally would not consider a nearly 30 percent increased risk to be negligible), I encourage you to consider the big picture. 

Using exercise and diet will allow your body to optimize testosterone, HGH and other hormones to levels that are ideal for you, and will have countless synergistic beneficial effects on your health. By opting for hormone therapy as your first line of treatment, you’re cheating yourself out of most, if not all, of those benefits—and you may even end up doing more harm than good.

[-] Sources and References

• ¹ JAMA November 6 2013;310(17):1829-1836
• ² JAMA November 6 2013;310(17):1829-1836
• ³ US Department of Food and Drug Administration. Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee.
• ⁴ JAMA Internal Medicine 2013;():1-2
• ⁵ The New York Times June 3, 2013
• ⁶ WebMD.com June 3, 2013
• ⁷ JAMA Internal Medicine 2013;():1-2
• ⁸ JAMA November 6 2013;310(17):1829-1836
• ⁹ NIH.gov, What Is Coronary Angiography?
• ¹⁰ Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism 24 September 2013 [Epub ahead of print]
• ¹¹ Medical News Today September 29, 2013
• ¹² New England Journal of Medicine September 12, 2013; 369:1011-1022
• ¹³ New England Journal of Medicine September 12, 2013; 369:1011-1022
• ¹⁴ New York Times September 11, 2013
• ¹⁵ Study presented at The Endocrine Society’s 91st Annual Meeting, June 13, 2009, Washington, D.C.
• ¹⁶ J Steroid Biochem. 1984 Jan;20(1):459-64

http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2013/11/22/testosterone-therapy.aspx

Dr Mercola's Thanksgiving Message

This Thanksgiving, I Give Thanks to You and All of Our Health Liberty Partners

Story at-a-glance

• This Thanksgiving, as you consider what you’re truly thankful for, I would like to thank you and all of our phenomenal Health Liberty partners, and share some of our joint successes
• Health Liberty is a nonprofit coalition formed by Mercola.com, National Vaccine Information Center, Fluoride Action Network, Institute for Responsible Technology, Organic Consumers Association, and Consumers for Dental Choice
• We are committed to taking a leadership role in removing many of the corporate barriers to you and your family achieving optimal health
• We hope that with our continuous service, you will stay motivated to take control of your health. Because ultimately, “having your health” is something that will fill you with gratitude for the rest of your life!

By Dr. Mercola 

Besides sharing time with family and friends over food, the primary ingredient of the American Thanksgiving holiday is, of course, gratitude.  

This year, Thanksgiving Day is also the first day of Hanukkah¹ — an extremely rare convergence that will not occur again for 79,043 years! The last time it happened was in 1888. So for Jewish Americans, November 28 may be doubly festive this year. 

As you take a moment to consider what you’re truly thankful for, and share it with those you love, I would like to share my gratitude for you, and all of our phenomenal Health Liberty partners.  

Health Liberty is a nonprofit coalition formed by Mercola.com, National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), Fluoride Action Network (FAN), Institute for Responsible Technology (IRT), Organic Consumers Association (OCA), and Consumers for Dental Choice. 

Each partner-organization has a rich history of advocacy and active campaigning for change and better access to truly empowering health information. Together, we’re making great strides toward improving a number of broken systems and health-harming practices:

• The outdated use of dangerous mercury in dentistry
• Water fluoridation
• Forced vaccinations
• Unlabeled genetically engineered foods
• The agricultural and food system that promotes unhealthy processed foods while trying to literally outlaw healthy whole organic foods  

Throughout the year, we’ve spearheaded and supported a number of fundraising events for our partner organizations in order to help them continue with their mission to improve people’s health. In return, they’ve been dogged and tireless in their efforts to do just that. I cannot imagine where we’d all be without them. 

I  Am Thankful for a Treaty Where Every Signing Nation Must Act against Amalgam 

For starters, the Campaign for Mercury-Free Dentistry, organized and led by Charlie Brown of Consumers for Dental Choice, beat tremendous opposition to get dental amalgam into the international mercury treaty this year. 

The treaty, named the  Minamata Convention on Mercury, requires action against mercury in many fronts -- mining (including gold mining, which uses mercury), power plants, industrial uses, and products.  In a decade’s time -- if the treaty is enforced; always a big “if” -- our world can see a substantial diminution of man-made mercury.  

Importantly, the treaty is being hailed as marking the beginning of the end for dental amalgam around the world, as it mandates that each nation phase down amalgam use. Specifically, each country must do at least two phase down steps listed in the treaty. The most constructive and efficient of those phase-down steps include:

• Promoting mercury-free alternatives
• Changing dental school curriculum and re-train dentists
• Encouraging insurance programs to favor mercury-free dental restorations over amalgam

It took three years; encompassing five negotiation sessions with all the nations, 15 regional sessions, dozens of papers and reports, and hundreds of meetings with individual governments to make sure dental amalgam made it into the treaty.  

The treaty will take effect once it’s been signed by 50 nations—a task that can typically take three or four years. In this case, the Zero Mercury Working Group has launched a campaign to get it ratified by 50 nations (and hence take effect) in just two years.  

Three weeks ago, the United States became the first nation to ratify this treaty.  What a stunning turnaround, since the US generally does not ratify treaties on toxins at all!  This action bodes well for speeding up the ratification process in other nations-- and for accelerating the worldwide campaign against dental mercury.

Thank You for Raising GMO Awareness Across the United States! 

Two of my partners, the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) and Institute for Responsible Technology (IRT), have been instrumental for helping raise awareness about the dangers of genetically engineered foods and their prevalence in the market place.

And even though two state initiatives were lost—California and Washington State—to the very deep pockets of the food industry and producers of genetically engineered seeds, the amount of discussion and awareness those two campaigns have raised is priceless.  

Since the inception of genetically engineered seed, the food industry has avoided discussion about these unnatural alterations to our food supply, and these state labeling initiatives have forced the issue, placing it front and center in the mind of millions.   

In many ways, we’re actually “winning by losing.” With each state ballot, more and more Americans are being educated on this issue, and are becoming savvy to the unsavory, and sometimes illegal, activities these companies engage in just to keep you in the dark about what’s in your food. It’s only a matter of time before this war is won, and we vow not to quit until it is. Some of the state initiatives currently in the works include:

• New Hampshire: HB 660² would require labeling of “any human or animal food offered for retail sale” as of July 1, 2014.
• Oregon: GMO Free Oregon has plans to begin collecting signatures to get a GMO labeling initiative on the 2014 ballot.³
• Hawaii County, Hawaii: Bill 113⁴ would ban GMO crops from being grown on the island, with exceptions for some GE crops that are already being cultivated. 
• Richmond, California: The Richmond city council is drafting an ordinance that would require genetically engineered foods sold in its jurisdiction to be labeled.⁵

 

I’m Grateful for Our Tireless Advocates for Safer Drinking Water  

After generations of misleading propaganda about the benefits of water fluoridation, the truth is finally getting some traction. Contrary to popular belief, the science clearly demonstrates that fluoride is a toxic chemical that accumulates in your tissues over time, wreaks havoc with enzymes, and produces a number of serious adverse health effects, including neurological and endocrine dysfunction. Children are particularly at risk for adverse effects of overexposure. 

Yet despite the scientific evidence against the practice, the United States lags far behind other nations in acknowledging the mistake and ending this tragic “public health” measure. As usual, the big lie must continue to protect faith in long term public health policies and agencies... 

Alas, the dam is starting to break, and fed up with government stonewalling, individual communities around the US have taken up the fight to end water fluoridation in their own local areas. Tirelessly aiding such communities is Dr. Paul Connett PhD, a chemist and executive director of the Fluoride Action Network (FAN). He’s a recognized leader in the fluoride education movement, spearheading the organized efforts to remove fluoride from our water supply in the US and elsewhere.  

Earlier this year, we’ve seen a number of victories, both in the US and abroad, including Wichita, Kansas, Portand, Oregon, where water fluoridation was ousted. Portland is so important because it is the largest city in the US that remains unfluoridated. In Australia, 15 regional Queensland councils have decided to either stop fluoridation or have refused to start.

Thank Heavens for Vaccine Liberty Fighters 

When it comes to fighting for your right to informed consent and be warned of vaccine risks, the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) is without equal in the US. If it wasn’t for the dedication of the NVIC team, far more people would likely suffer the unspeakable tragedy that is vaccine damage. 

The power of personal choice is part of the definition of liberty, and the removal of choice—especially when it comes to medicine, which can have long-term health ramifications—is part of the very definition of tyranny. Today, there is no greater threat to liberty in America than the government enforced use of pharmaceutical products, such as vaccines, sold by corporations for profit. 

The large gaps in scientific knowledge about the damage that repeated vaccination from day of birth throughout life could be doing to a child’s brain and immune system has turned current vaccine laws into a forced, uncontrolled scientific experiment on the American population. But matters would likely be far worse if it wasn’t for NVIC’s continuous advocacy for your right to be informed about the risks and to choose whether those risks are acceptable in your, or your child’s, case. In many instances the NVIC is the only pro-choice group present at important meetings relating to proposed vaccine rules. 

Mercola.com recently sponsored the NVIC multi-state billboard campaign, which involved placing educational vaccine awareness ads in several cities including Chicago, Phoenix, Tucson, Portland, Olympia, and Austin, allowing us to reach over 10 million people. But there is so much more to be done in this arena, so I invite you to get involved. Nothing could possibly express your gratitude for these “liberty fighters” more than to join them.  

YOU—The Greatest Gift of All 

Last but certainly not least, I am grateful for you—for reading, absorbing, implementing, and sharing the information in this newsletter each day, and for time and time again responding to the call to action from all of these partner organizations. It is with YOUR support that their work is being accomplished. It is through YOUR participation and engagement in important issues that change is being manifested. YOU are the ones changing the world—one Facebook post, Twitter share, and donation at a time.  

Never underestimate the impact you’re having. By itself, a singular voice may not be heard, as it can easily be drowned out by paid opposition. But add together the sound of millions of concerned, dedicated voices, and eventually it will become a deafening roar that cannot be ignored even by the most callous and corrupted decision makers. We have significant problems within our political system, our health system, and our food and agricultural systems. Some seem to be broken beyond repair. But the answer is not to give up, but rather to know that you can make a profound difference.  

Take heart in knowing that there are in fact people and organizations already hard at work to change these systems for the better. Let’s be thankful for them. And let’s not take them and their hard work for granted. Instead, join them and share the load. That’ll ease the burden for everyone.  

As for myself and my Mercola.com team, our social responsibility is to promote valuable health information, and it’s a mission we will never cease to fulfill. With your help, we have been able to help educate the public and to help you make informed health choices for yourselves and your families. We hope that with our continuous service, you will stay motivated to take control of your health. Because ultimately, “having your health” is something that will fill you with gratitude for the rest of your life!

[-] Sources and References

• ¹ Kansas City Star November 11, 2013
• ² New Hampshire House Bill 660
• ³ Northwest Public Radio November 6, 2013
• ⁴ Big Island Video News November 5, 2013
• ⁵ Richmond Confidential November 6, 2013

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/11/28/thanksgiving-2013.aspx?

New Cholesterol Treatment Guidelines Could ...

...  Double the Number of People on Dangerous Statins—Including Perfectly Healthy People

November 27, 2013

Story at-a-glance

• New treatment guidelines for high cholesterol will likely DOUBLE the number of Americans being prescribed these dangerous drugs, bringing the total to an estimated 72 million people
• 12 of the 16 panel members of the new guidelines are affiliated with more than 50 different drug companies, many of which have a financial interest in the outcome of this report
• The guideline committee has vowed to examine the flaws to determine if and what changes are needed to make it more accurate. Until then, beware the calculator appears to overestimate your risk by anywhere from 75 to 150 percent

 

By Dr. Mercola 

One in four Americans over the age of 45 currently take a statin drug, despite the fact that there are over 900 studies proving their adverse effects, which run the gamut from muscle problems to increased cancer risk.  

Now, new treatment guidelines for high cholesterol will likely DOUBLE the number of Americans being prescribed these dangerous drugs, bringing the total to an estimated—and staggering—72 million people!  

The new guidelines, laid out in the report 2013 ACC/AHA Guideline on the Treatment of Blood Cholesterol to Reduce Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Risk in Adults¹,² were issued by the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology on November 12. 

The updated treatment guidelines now focus on risk factors rather than cholesterol levels. 

The guideline report was prepared by a panel of “experts” who volunteered their time, and is ostensibly based on an analysis of randomized controlled trials. Not surprisingly, the panel members are affiliated with more than 50 different drug companies, many of which have a financial interest in the outcome of this report. One of the authors even has stock in a medical malpractice firm. 

According to the New York Times,³ several committee members ended up dropped out of this investigative panel because they were “unhappy with the direction the committee was going.”  

How May the New Guidelines Affect You?

As explained by the American Heart Association,⁴ the new guidelines advise doctors to look at certain risk factors in order to determine if a patient should be prescribed a statin drug, or whether he or she should simply focus on heart healthy lifestyle changes. The problem is, virtually no one will fall into the latter category. 

If you answer “yes” to ANY of the following four questions, the treatment protocol calls for a statin drug:

1. Do you have heart disease?
2. Do you have diabetes? (either type 1 or type 2)
3. Is your LDL cholesterol above 190?
4. Is your 10-year risk of a heart attack greater than 7.5 percent? 

The calculation to ascertain your 10-year heart attack risk was developed by a committee chaired by Dr. Donald Lloyd-Jones. He explained the cardiovascular risk calculator,⁵ to CNN:⁶

"We were able to generate very robust risk equations for both non-Hispanic white men and women as well as African-American men and women. Those equations factor in age, sex, race, total and HDL ('good') cholesterol levels, blood pressure levels, blood pressure treatment status as well as diabetes and current smoking status. Each of those factors is assigned a numerical value and can be used to determine individual risk percentage using an online calculator.” 

Well-Known Integrated Cardiologist Decimates Treatment Guidelines 

Dr. Stephen Sinatra⁷ wrote an in-depth article in which he decimates every single one of these four treatment guidelines. According to him, the new guidelines are at best 20-25 percent accurate, and here’s why:

1. The heart disease criteria, while it might be appropriate for older men, does not really work for women. There’s no data demonstrating that the benefits of statins outweigh the health risks in women—risks that include diabetes and breast cancer.
According to Dr. Sinatra: “[I]n my opinion, the only women who should be on statins are those with advanced coronary artery disease who continue to deteriorate despite lifestyle interventions. I believe that less than one percent of women with coronary artery disease fall into this category.”
2. In short, giving a drug that causes diabetes to someone who already has diabetes is nonsensical. It can only make matters worse. What’s more, data indicates that statins can cause arterial calcification in diabetic men who take the drug. Thirdly, statins can cause cataracts, which is a common problem in diabetics. The drug may therefore increase this risk.
3. This may be appropriate if you have genetic familial hypercholesterolemia, as this makes you resistant to traditional measures of normalizing cholesterol, such as diet and exercise. This condition is quite rare, affecting an estimated one in 500. In the absence of this genetic situation, treating high LDL levels has little validity.
4. As you will see below, the 10-year heart attack risk calculation has been “programmed” in such a way as to make patients out of virtually everyone. Besides that, Dr. Sinatra points out that the complexity of estimating risk based on age, race, blood pressure, smoking habits and other criteria is quite likely to lead to overzealous prescribing.

The CV Calculator—‘A Major Embarrassment'  

The CV risk calculator, which basically evaluates those who do not immediately qualify by having heart disease, diabetes or elevated LDL, appears to have some very significant flaws. And again, not surprisingly, the flaws are such that a vast majority of people end up having a greater than 7.5 percent risk of a heart attack within the next 10 years—thereby qualifying them for “preventive” statin treatment.  

A very clever strategy indeed: create a test that virtually assures that everyone who takes it will be a candidate for these expensive drugs they’re seeking to have people take for the rest of their lives. According to a November 17 article in the New York Times,⁸ Dr. Steven Nissen (quoted earlier) spoke out against the implementation of these guidelines:

“[I]n a major embarrassment to the health groups, the calculator appears to greatly overestimate risk, so much so that it could mistakenly suggest that millions more people are candidates for statin drugs. The apparent problem prompted one leading cardiologist, a past president of the American College of Cardiology, to call... for a halt to the implementation of the new guidelines.

‘It’s stunning,’ said... Dr. Steven Nissen... “We need a pause to further evaluate this approach before it is implemented on a widespread basis.’ ‘We’re surrounded by a real disaster in terms of credibility,’ said Dr. Peter Libby, the chairman of the department of cardiovascular medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.”

...The controversy set off turmoil at the annual meeting of the American Heart Association... After an emergency session... the two organizations that published the guidelines — the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology — said that while the calculator was not perfect, it was a major step forward, and that the guidelines already say patients and doctors should discuss treatment options rather than blindly follow a calculator.”

Using the CV Calculator Virtually Guarantees You’ll Be Put on a Statin 

As it stands, the guideline committee has vowed to examine the flaws to determine if and what changes are needed to make it more accurate. Until then, it may be good to know that the calculator appears to overestimate your risk by anywhere from 75 to 150 percent! Dr. Nissen used the calculator to evaluate some of his own patients—men who had no known risk markers. They had healthy cholesterol levels, normal blood pressure, and didn’t smoke; in short, men who were completely healthy, and found they still ended up having a 7.5 percent risk, qualifying them for arbitrary drug treatment.

“Something is terribly wrong,” he told the New York Times,⁹ noting that using this calculator will ensure that virtually every “average healthy Joe” gets statin treatment. According to the two researchers who discovered the problem:¹⁰

“Miscalibration to this extent should be reconciled and addressed before these new prediction models are widely implemented. If real, such systematic overestimation of risk will lead to considerable overprescription.”

But that’s not all. As described by the American Heart Association,¹¹ the guideline also does away with the previous recommendation to use the lowest drug dose possible—a strategy that typically meant you’d end up being prescribed a low-dose statin along with one or more other cholesterol-lowering medications. The new guideline basically focuses ALL the attention on statin-only treatment, and at higher dosages, ostensibly to eliminate the need for additional drugs. But if you don’t need ANY drug to begin with, why take a much higher dose of a drug that is well known for having potentially serious side effects?!

Statins Are Hardly Preventive Medicine 

The panel members have concocted a bizarre justification for these actions, trying to make it sound like the new recommendations are focused on prevention through lifestyle modifications along with statin therapy. This is a gross misapplication of the word “prevention,” as these drugs cannot address the underlying conditions of heart or cardiovascular disease. Even more egregious, they have apparently chosen to completely ignore recent research showing that statins can effectively negate the benefits of exercise, which is one of the primary heart disease prevention strategies! 

But the biggest “sham” of all is that statin drugs, touted as “preventive medicine” to protect your heart health, can actually have detrimental effects on your heart. For example, a study published just last year in the journal Atherosclerosis,¹² showed that statin use is associated with a 52 percent increased prevalence and extent of calcified coronary plaque compared to non-users. And coronary artery calcification is the hallmark of potentially lethal heart disease. Just what kind of prevention is that?

Statins Shown to Nullify Benefits of Exercise 

One of the major benefits of exercise is the beneficial impact it has on your heart health, and exercise is a primary strategy to naturally maintain healthy cholesterol levels. Alas, if you take a statin drug, you’re likely to forfeit any and all health benefits of your exercise. As previously reported by the New York Times:¹³

“In past studies, researchers have shown that statins reduce the risk of a heart attack in people at high risk by 10 to 20 percent for every 1-millimole-per-liter reduction in blood cholesterol levels (millimoles measure the actual number of cholesterol molecules in the bloodstream), equivalent to about a 40-point drop in LDL levels.

Meanwhile, improving aerobic fitness by even a small percentage through exercise likewise has been found to lessen someone’s likelihood of dying prematurely by as much as 50 percent... But until the current study, no experiment scrupulously had explored the interactions of statin drugs and workouts in people. And the results, as it turns out, are worrisome.”

The study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology,¹⁴ discovered that statin use led to dramatically reduced fitness benefits from exercise, in some cases actually making the volunteer LESS fit than before. The results showed that:

• On average, unmedicated participants improved their aerobic fitness by more than 10 percent after a 12-week long (five days a week) supervised exercise program. Mitochondrial content activity increased by 13 percent
• Volunteers taking 40 mg of simvastatin improved their fitness by a mere 1.5 percent on average, and some had reduced their aerobic capacity at the end of the 12-week fitness program. Mitochondrial content activity decreased by an average of 4.5 percent 

According to senior study author John P. Thyfault, a professor of nutrition and exercise physiology at the University of Missouri:¹⁵ “’Low aerobic fitness is one of the best predictors’ of premature death. And if statins prevent people from raising their fitness through exercise, then that is a concern.”

How Statins Might Undo Fitness Benefits and Make Your Heart Health Worse  

The key to understanding why statins prevent your body from reaping the normal benefits from exercise lies in understanding what these drugs do to your mitochondria—the energy chamber of your cells, responsible for the utilization of energy for all metabolic functions.  

The primary fuel for your mitochondria is Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), and one of the primary mechanisms of harm from statins in general appears to be related to CoQ10 depletion. This also explains why certain statin users in the featured trial ended up with worse aerobic fitness after a steady fitness regimen.  

It's been known for many decades that exercise helps to build and strengthen your muscles, but more recent research has revealed that this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the potential role exercise can play in your health. A 2011 review published in Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism¹⁶ pointed out that exercise induces changes in mitochondrial enzyme content and activity (which is what they tested in the featured study), which can increase your cellular energy production and in so doing decrease your risk of chronic disease.  

 

Are New Guidelines a Shrewd Way to Promote Statins Without Blaming Cholesterol? 

Odds are greater than 100 to 1 that if you're taking a statin, you don't really need it. The ONLY subgroup that might benefit are those born with a genetic defect called familial hypercholesterolemia, as this makes them resistant to traditional measures of normalizing cholesterol. For many years, I’ve been educating my readers about the fact that cholesterol isn’t the cause of heart disease, and even conventional doctors have started catching on. So I can’t help but wonder if these new guidelines, which bypass the issue of cholesterol levels, placing the focus on risk factors instead, aren’t just a shrewd way of getting around this pesky issue. 

Now, in three out of four cases, your cholesterol levels will not be a factor at all—you still qualify for statin treatment just by having heart disease, diabetes or a 7.5 percent or greater 10-year risk, based on a calculator that makes patients out of completely healthy people. This truly appears to be a recipe for disaster, and I cannot advise against falling into this trap strongly enough. It reminds me of the ludicrous suggestion three years ago to provide free statins with meals at fast food restaurants.¹⁷

Special Warnings for Statin Users 

Statins are HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors, which means they act by blocking the enzyme in your liver that is responsible for making cholesterol (HMG-CoA reductase). But remember, your body NEEDS cholesterol—it is important in the production of your cell membranes, hormones, vitamin D, and bile acids that help you to digest fat.  

Cholesterol also helps your brain form memories and is vital to your neurological function. There is also strong evidence that having too little cholesterol INCREASES your risk for cancer, memory loss, Parkinson's disease, hormonal imbalances, stroke, depression, suicide, and violent behavior.  

As I mentioned earlier, there are over 900 studies demonstrating the harmful effects of statins. To learn more about statins, please see my special report: “Do YOU Take Any of These 11 Dangerous Cholesterol Drugs?” It’s also important to remember that statins are classified as a "pregnancy Category X medication" meaning, it causes serious birth defects, and should NEVER be used by a woman who is pregnant or planning a pregnancy.  If it is prescribed it is simply gross negligence and malpractice. 

Another factor to keep in mind is that statin drugs may not mix well with other potentially lifesaving drugs, such as antibiotics. According to recent Canadian research,¹⁸ patients —especially the elderly—taking cholesterol-lowering drugs such as Lipitor, should avoid the antibiotics clarithromycin and erythromycin, as these antibiotics inhibit the metabolism of statins. Increased drug concentrations in your body may cause muscle or kidney damage, and even death.

Statin Drugs Can Wreck Your Health in Multiple Ways 

Statins have also been shown to increase your risk of diabetes via a number of different mechanisms, so if you weren’t put on a statin because you have diabetes, you may end up with a diabetes diagnosis courtesy of the drug. Two of these mechanisms include:

• Increasing insulin resistance, which can be extremely harmful to your health. Increased insulin resistance contributes to chronic inflammation in your body, and inflammation is the hallmark of most diseases. In fact, increased insulin resistance can lead to heart disease, which, again, is the primary reason for taking a statin in the first place. It can also promote belly fat, high blood pressure, heart attacks, chronic fatigue, thyroid disruption, and diseases like Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and cancer.
• Raising your blood sugar. When you eat a meal that contains starches and sugar, some of the excess sugar goes to your liver, which then stores it away as cholesterol and triglycerides. Statins work by preventing your liver from making cholesterol. As a result, your liver returns the sugar to your bloodstream, which raises your blood sugar levels.

Drug-induced diabetes and genuine type 2 diabetes are not necessarily identical. If you're on a statin drug and find that your blood glucose is elevated, it's possible that what you have is just hyperglycemia—a side effect, and the result of your medication.  

Unfortunately, many doctors will at that point mistakenly diagnose you with "type 2 diabetes," and possibly prescribe another drug, when all you may need to do is simply discontinue the statin in order for your blood glucose levels to revert back to normal. 

Statin drugs also interfere with other biological functions. Of utmost importance, statins deplete your body of CoQ10, which accounts for many of its devastating results.  

Therefore, if you take a statin, you must take supplemental CoQ10, or better, the reduced form called ubiquinol. Statins also interfere with the mevalonate pathway, which is the central pathway for the steroid management in your body. Products of this pathway that are negatively affected by statins include:

• All your sex hormones
• Cortisone
• The dolichols, which are involved in keeping the membranes inside your cells healthy
• All sterols, including cholesterol and vitamin D (which is similar to cholesterol and is produced from cholesterol in your skin)

New Guidelines Fraught with Massive Conflicts of Interest  

The authors of the guideline list conflicts of interest, starting on page 51 of the document, but it’s been reported that anyone with conflicts did not actually vote on the final draft. Some news outlets have therefore reported that there were NO conflicts of interest involved in the making of the guidelines. This is, I believe, a serious mistake in reporting, as members of this panel actually have ties to more than 50 different drug companies. Whether they voted on the final draft or not, they were still instrumental in creating the guidelines in the first place.  

For example, the lead author, Dr. Neil J. Stone, is a strong proponent of statin usage and has received honoraria for educational lectures from Abbott, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Kos, Merck, Merck/Schering-Plough, Novartis, Pfizer, Reliant, and Sankyo. 

He’s also served as a consultant for Abbott, Merck, Merck/Schering-Plough, Pfizer, and Reliant.  Here are two more examples:

• The second author listed, Jennifer Robinson, admitted to the New York Times in 2011 that she was taking research money from seven companies, including some top sellers of cholesterol pills. University of Iowa records show industry financing of more than $450,000 for research led by Robinson between 2008 and 2011. (As an FYI, 2008 was the year the committee began working on these new treatment guidelines.)
• Another author, C. Noel Bairey Merz, has received lecture honoraria from Pfizer, Merck & Kos, and has served as a consultant for Pfizer, Bayer, and EHC (Merck). She’s also received unrestricted institutional grants for Continuing Medical Education from Pfizer, Procter & Gamble, Novartis, Wyeth, AstraZeneca, and Bristol-Myers Squibb Medical Imaging, as well as a research grant from Merck. She also has stock in Boston Scientific, IVAX, Eli Lilly, Medtronic, Johnson & Johnson, SCIPIE Insurance, ATS Medical, and Biosite.

12 of 16 Panel Members have Ties to Drug Industry 

Two years ago, the New York Times¹⁹ criticized the cholesterol panel, including Dr. Stone, for its many apparent conflicts of interest. Stone told the NYT that the group was taking “extraordinary measures to reduce bias,” but with the evidence I've found on this group, how could they possibly not be biased toward the use of statins? At least 12 of the 16 members have financial ties with the pharmaceutical industry!   Even more egregious, only seven of them chose to disclose such ties. After hours of internet research, I discovered five more authors had potential conflicts of interest with industry. It's nothing short of outrageous that an entire nation of people may be prescribed these hazardous drugs based on the decision by a group that has so many financial ties to so many drug companies. 

The panel’s conflicts of interest again came under fire in a recent article in Time Magazine,²⁰ which noted that:

“The Institute of Medicine (IOM), an independent organization of scientists that analyzes available data and provides advice on medical issues, recommends that chairs of guideline committees should have no conflicts of interest if possible, and that the entire panel should also be free of ties to industry; if that’s not possible, then at least half of the members should meet this criterion...  

Those policies stem from studies suggesting that biases do creep into people’s behaviors, whether consciously or not. In one study published earlier this year, for example, scientists compared the guidelines proposed by two different groups of experts for treating a blood clotting disorder; the panel in which 73% of members reported connections to pharmaceutical companies suggested stronger recommendations for turning to drug-based treatments compared to a panel in which none of the members had ties to industry.” 

Dr. Stone claims the panel could not have been created unless members with conflicts of interest were included, because anyone involved in a statin drug trial would be considered a consultant. “And you can’t have expertise without having done clinical trials,” he told Time. However, according to the IOM, panels charged with devising treatment guidelines do NOT really have to be experts in the field. While helpful, clinical experience is not critical because the job of the panel is to assess available research for sound methodology and accuracy of data.

On Living a Heart Healthy Lifestyle 

Contrary to what pharmaceutical PR firms will tell you, statins have nothing to do with reducing your heart disease risk. In fact, this class of drugs can increase your heart disease risk—especially if you do not take Ubiquinol (CoQ10) along with it to mitigate the depletion of CoQ10 caused by the drug.  

Poor lifestyle choices are primarily to blame for increased heart disease risk, such as eating too much sugar, getting too little exercise, lack of sun exposure and rarely or never grounding to the earth. These are all things that are within your control, and don’t cost much (if any) money to address.  

The fact that statins can effectively nullify the benefits of healthy lifestyle changes like exercise, which in and of itself is important to bolster heart health and maintain healthy cholesterol levels, is yet another reason to think twice before opting for such a drug. Also remember that the BEST way to condition your heart (as well as burn excess fat) is to engage in high-intensity interval exercise. Evidence suggests that this may actually provide MORE protection against heart attacks than long durational aerobic-type exercises.  

If you’re currently taking a statin drug and are worried about the excessive side effects they cause, please consult with a knowledgeable health care practitioner who can help you to optimize your heart health naturally, without the use of these dangerous drugs.

[-] Sources and References

• ¹ American Heart Association November 12, 2013
• ² Journal of the American College of Cardiology November 2013 [Epub ahead of print]
• ³ New York Times November 12, 2013
• ⁴ American Heart Association November 12, 2013
• ⁵ American Heart Association, 2013 CV Risk Calculator
• ⁶ CNN November 13, 2013
• ⁷ Drsinatra.com November 13, 2013
• ⁸ New York Times November 17, 2013
• ⁹ New York Times November 17, 2013
• ¹⁰ New York Times November 17, 2013
• ¹¹ American Heart Association November 12, 2013
• ¹² Atherosclerosis August 24, 2012: 225(1):148-53
• ¹³ New York Times May 22, 2013
• ¹⁴ Journal of the American College of Cardiology April 10, 2013 [Epub ahead of print]
• ¹⁵ New York Times May 22, 2013
• ¹⁶ Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism 2011 Oct;36(5):598-607
• ¹⁷ Science Daily August 12, 2013
• ¹⁸ Annals of Internal Medicine 2013 Jun 18;158(12):869-76
• ¹⁹ New York Times November 2, 2011
• ²⁰ Time magazine November 22, 2013

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/11/27/statins-cholesterol-treatment-guidelines.aspx?