\r\n \r\n I have no need or desire to reduce cholesterol. I have no idea what my ldl levels are anyway. However, I\'ve been researching statins for my sister who wants to follow the natural path, but is afraid to do anything different from what her MD tells her.
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\nI have discovered that there are 3 kinds of cholesterol lowering agents. Bile-acid sequestrants, niacin and the statins are the three main types.
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\nI have a friend who has cholesterol problems all throughout her family for a couple of generations. She decided to go with a drug called Welchol after a lot of study. She is not too much interested in the natural path. This drug seems more harmless than the statins. It works within the digestive tract, instead of being metabolized by the liver. It is not absorbed by the body apparently. However, since it binds to bile, its side effect is constipation.
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\nColesevelam is part of a class of drugs known as bile acid sequestrants. Colesevelam hydrochloride, the active pharmaceutical ingredient in Welchol, is a non-absorbed, lipid-lowering polymer that binds bile acids in the intestine, impeding their reabsorption. As the bile acid pool becomes depleted, the hepatic enzyme, cholesterol 7-α-hydroxylase, is upregulated, which increases the conversion of cholesterol to bile acids. This causes an increased demand for cholesterol in the liver cells, resulting in the dual effect of increasing transcription and activity of the cholesterol biosynthetic enzyme, HMG-CoA reductase, and increasing the number of hepatic LDL receptors. These compensatory effects result in increased clearance of LDL-C from the blood, resulting in decreased serum LDL-C levels. Serum TG levels may increase or remain unchanged.
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\n It is not yet known how Colesevelam works to help control blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes. However, it is clear that the drug works within the digestive tract, since it is not absorbed into the rest of the body.\r\n

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\n- Jim
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\n �Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened.� Sir Winston Churchill\r\n

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\r\n \r\n pectin fiber (found in fruits and especially apple peels) are also bile acid sequestrants. There is product I have mentioned before called profibe which is grapefruit pectin.\r\n

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