Dangers of low cholesterol

The numbers game

Somewhere along the line, health became a numbers game. And as far as conventional medicine is concerned, the lower the better. No matter what the number. Unfortunately, it’s not always that simple. In fact, this approach can be downright dangerous.

Take cholesterol, for example. We’ve all been conditioned to think that we need to get our levels as low as possible. But low cholesterol levels cause even more problems than high levels.

One study found that people with cholesterol below 180 mg/dl had twice the risk of stroke compared with people whose level was 230 mg/dl. Other studies have linked low levels with cancer, liver disease, depression, and Parkinson’s disease–just to name a few.

Despite the risks, cholesterol recommendations continue to go lower and lower. Why? Because there are drugs to lower it!

And now the same thing is happening with blood sugar.

It seems like there’s a new diabetes drug on the market every week. So of course the pharmaceutical companies are trying to convince you to get your blood sugar as low as it can go.

But, once again, this approach may do more harm than good.

In fact, one very large clinical trial had to be stopped for this very reason. Researchers found that excessively lowering  blood sugar actually increased risk of death from cardiovascular disease.

The goal in this study was to drive patients’ HbA1C levels down below 6. Which is a great goal for anyone who doesn’t already have diabetes. But it’s not realistic–or safe–for people who do. The researchers found that forcing HbA1C levels down that low led to a 21 percent increase in deaths.

If you have diabetes, aim to keep your HbA1C level as close to 7 as possible.

The best–and safest–way to do that is by making changes to your lifestyle. Not your medicine cabinet.

But that doesn’t mean spending three hours a day on a treadmill. Or living on bean sprouts and melba toast. In fact, my New Hamptons Health Miracle makes it easier–and more fun–to beat diabetes than you can even imagine.