People who take the popular medications to control their high cholesterol received another caution last week. The Archives of Internal Medicine (January 2012) reported a much higher incidence of diabetes in women taking statins. Hormone and Anti-Aging specialist, Dr. Thomas Moraczewski, M.D. from Orlando’s Center for Natural & Integrative Medicine , feels that most patients can control their high cholesterol without statin usage. Additionally, he feels that over-aggressive treatment to cholesterols below 160 can lead to a downstream shutdown of the hormonal system, from which are derived all the major hormones, such as pregenelone, estrogen, DHEA, testosterone, and progesterone.

Dr. Moraczewski’s approach to lowering abnormally high cholesterol includes:

• Hormone balancing (thyroid, adrenals, reproductive, insulin)

• Detoxification of liver and bowel

• Proper eating program, chiefly plant-based

• Lifestyle changes, such as exercise, weight loss, stress reduction, and sleep

• Supplementation with natural products and foods, such as niacin, red yeast rice and CoQ10, tocotrienols, soluble fiber, and garlic

Most physicians do not associate hormonal decline with aging with their patient’s high cholesterol numbers. But low estrogen in women and low testosterone in men as well as suboptimal thyroid function are associated with high cholesterol and blood sugars.

Dr. Moraczewski recounts a patient who dropped her total cholesterol from 300 to 200 simply by lifestyle, eating program, and bioidentical hormones.

The key to hormone health is evaluating and properly balancing hormones to youthful levels. At the Center for Natural & Integrative Medicine we look at the entire body systems and try to understand the “why” the person’s cholesterol is elevated before randomly prescribing a statin.