Lower Your C-Reactive Protein

Do you have a deficiency of Crestor?
NO, you don’t. Results of a Crestor-sponsored study found that normally healthy people should take Crestor, even without higher cholesterol  Really??? 
Be skeptical, people. Here’s why: Crestor, one of the most powerful statin drugs made by AstraZeneca, was heralded by a company press release, (which was picked up by numerous media outlets without question, except for ABC) for bringing about a 56% reduction in cardiovascular events (heart attack, stroke, etc.)  most likely due to a reduction of these pro-inflammatory substances such as C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin and cytokines. 
This 56% is one of those sneaky statistical smokescreens--sounds better than it is. The difference between one group taking Crestor and another taking a placebo was actually 2.8% versus 1.6%. In other words, a 56% difference. It’s better to analyze the composite outcome, which tells you that if you had 100 people on Crestor, about .77 would have a cardiovascular event within a year, compared to 1.35 out of 100, for those not on the drug.  

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But you still have to consider the unwanted consequences of taking 100 apparently healthy people and putting them on a powerful statin drug, which has a metabolic pathway in the body that practically guarantees some level of unhealthy side effect. And the study was cut short by three years, supposedly due to the “dramatic” statistical difference, but researchers know that when you curtail a study, you also cut short the side effects snowballing into a real disaster, and diabetic risk was increased during the two years.
     The good news is that the controversy created by this study has focused attention on natural ways ou can lower this chronic inflammation pattern through diet, herbs, vitamins, exercise and mind/body relaxation techniques. Remember, you want to lower your chronic inflammation because unchecked, it leads to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, cancer, stroke, Alzheimer’s dementia and respiratory disease. Almost 90 million people in the US suffer from chronic diseases, and chronic inflammation is cited most often as the instigating biochemical factor.
    Here are some natural methods for controlling inflammation:

1. *Anti-inflammatory vitamins. Vitamin C and E were also cited in the same week for lowering CRP by 37% and 32% respectively, but these vitamins didn’t make headlines, of course.  
   
2. *Anti-inflammatory herbs.  Solid research exists on effective anti-inflammatory herbs: boswellia, turmeric, willow bark, feverfew.
   
3. *Anti-inflammatory diet.  Cut out the refined sugar, processed foods and heavy meats and starches. Increase fruits, vegetables and whole grains. A study showed that increasing dietary fiber to 30 grams lowered CRP by 14%.
   
4. *Moderate, not excessive, exercise. This can lower CRP levels beyond those of sedentary individuals. 
   
5. *Lose excess body fat.  Weight loss will create a significant reduction in inflammatory markers, and increase adiponectin (an anti-inflammatory natural agent). 
   
6. *Unwind and relax.  Mind-body therapies such as guided imagery and meditation will alleviate psychological stress which tends to activate norepinephrine, the HPA axis and create a cascade of inflammation.
   
7. *Healthful supplements. New research on fermented extracts such as sweet potato extract, and toyo-FYG, a fermented pine bark extract, has created a stir among integrative medicine practitioners, including myself, for their remarkable anti-inflammatory effects in patients. Try these supplements from www.wellcorps.com/wellcapam, and combine them with a holistic lifestyle to reduce your inflammatory load. You’ll feel healthier, look better, and avoid the serious side effects such as muscle breakdown, fatigue, diabetes, and kidney failure that risky and unnecessary use of statin drugs could provoke.