Botanical breakthrough beats high blood sugar and cuts cholesterol naturally!
By Jonathan V. Wright, M.D.
If there ever was any excuse for prescribing “statin”-type patent medicines to lower cholesterol, that excuse is now totally gone. Earlier writings of mine reviewed research showing that the botanical “berberine” actually controls cholesterol and triglycerides better than the most-commonly prescribed formerly patented medicine for type 2 diabetes. Combined with the Paleo diet, interval training, and essential nutrients required in greater quantity by type 2 diabetics, berberine has lowered cholesterol and triglycerides very significantly in all the type 2 diabetics with whom I’ve worked.
Then there’s red yeast rice and red yeast wine, both of which lower cholesterol by directly inhibiting the enzyme (for the technically inclined, “HMG CoA reductase”) considered key to cholesterol synthesis. As you likely know, red yeast (for the technically inclined, “Monascus purpurea”) contains tiny amounts of a type of statin, but not anywhere close to the relatively large amounts found in the various statin patent medications. (There’s suspicion here and there that the patent medicine company which patented the very first statin knew about this, but carefully didn’t disclose it to the patent office—otherwise, they wouldn’t have been able to patent it!) Despite the tiny amount of statin red yeast contains, it’s still quite effective in lowering cholesterol, and with many fewer adverse effects than much higher dose statin patent medicines.
Cholesterol control from the Mediterranean
Now there’s another botanical shown very recently (in research terms) to lower cholesterol. Bergamot (more formally “Citrus bergamia”) is native to Italy and other Mediterranean countries. For now, we’ll review very briefly research about its effects on cholesterol and blood sugar.
In 2009, Italian researchers published results of analysis the activities of two flavonoids found in bergamot, “brutieridin” and “melitidin” (for the technically inclined “3-hydroxymethylglutaryl flavonoid glycosides”).1 They reported that these flavonoids had “statin-like principles”. Of course since Nature, Citrus bergamia, and “3-hydroxymethylglutaryl flavonoid glycosides” have been around for hundreds of thousands of years, and statin patent medicines for less than fifty years, in my opinion the researchers should have written that “statin patent medicines have 3-hydroxymethylglutaryl flavonoid glycoside-like principles” or “bergamot-like principles” for short.
In 2010, a different group of Italian researchers wrote that brutieridin and melitidin were “…identified to be structural analogues of statins…”2 They wrote that “…a detailed analysis of the geometrical and electronic features affecting the binding of these compounds…to the active site of the enzyme [HMG CoA reductase] and to give better insight into the inhibition process.”
Bergamot lowers blood sugar too
Then in 2011, a third group of Italian researchers reported the effects of bergamot extract in two-hundred thirty seven individuals with high cholesterol, many of whom also had high blood sugar. Within thirty days, they had significant reductions in total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and triglycerides, along with significant increases in HDL cholesterol. In addition, there were significant blood sugar reductions in those who had high blood sugar. As in the 2009 and 2010 research, they found that the bergamot extract inhibited HMG CoA reductase, that key enzyme for cholesterol synthesis.
Bergamot has recently been introduced into the natural food supplement market as “Bergamonte” in 250 milligram capsules. Suggested use is two capsules, twice daily. Of course, in our “free” country, los federales’ complete suppression of telling the truth (despite the 1st Amendment) about scientific research without “approval”—approval which can cost $800 million to $1 billion—you cannot read about these findings on the actual bottle label, which is why this information is here.
Bergamonte can be obtained from a few natural food stores and compounding pharmacies, and from the Tahoma Clinic Dispensary.
-Jonathan V. Wright, MD