The Need For Vegetable Oil

Adding any nutrient to the diet which allows lecithin to be produced in normal amounts helps to alleviate atherosclerosis. Although arachidonic acid is necessary before lecithin can be synthesized, saturated animal fats, hydrogenated cooking fats, and most margarines contain little or no essential fatty acids; hence they cannot increase lecithin production. The more arachidonic acid there is in the blood of animals, the more resistant they are to atherosclerosis. Giving vegetable oils or arachidonic and/or linoleic acids, however, elevates low blood lecithin almost immediately. Moreover, when a solid fat in an experimental diet is partly or completely replaced by vegetable oil, the blood cholesterol and fat decrease as their utilization improves; but if the vegetable oil is gradually hydrogenated and fed to groups of animals, the blood cholesterol rises with each increase in hydrogenation.

Any oils, including fish oils which contain no essential fatty acids, help reduce blood cholesterol by decreasing its absorption .Giving vegetable oils rich in linoleic acid, however, markedly increases the quantity of cholesterol changed into bile salts and accelerates the breakdown of fats and cholesterol to carbon dioxide and water in the tissues.

The amount of oil needed daily appears to be no more than 1 or 2 tablespoons, although 2 teaspoons have not decreased blood cholesterols. The more solid fats eaten, the greater becomes the need for linoleic acid. If the intake of solid fats is high, a deficiency of linoleic acid can be produced even when oils are included in the diet. It is important to understand that there is nothing wrong with natural saturated fats as long as the cells are supplied with all nutrients necessary to utilize them. The need for these nutrients is markedly decreased, of course, if the saturated fats themselves are largely avoided, which is the approach now most commonly used to combat atherosclerosis.

Practical advice is to eat the same amount of fat as usual but decrease animal fat except that from fish; use oils for cooking, seasoning, and salad dressings; and avoid all hydrogenated fats-margarines, cooking fats, hydrogenated peanut butter, and processed cheeses-and foods prepared with them.

Above all else, do not go overboard in using oils. They supply 100 calories per tablespoon, and any not used are stored as a particularly soft, flabby fat. Furthermore, oils alone cannot correct atherosclerosis. For example, deposits removed from fat-plugged femoral arteries quickly returned when patients made no change in their diets except to get half of the fat from oils.

Inositol And Cholin Are Essential

If either of the B vitamins cholin or inositol is undersupplied, lecithin cannot be produced in adequate amounts. Little research has been done on inositol deficiencies, but a mild lack of cholin causes the amount of lecithin in the blood of rats to decrease, much less cholesterol to be changed into bile salts,and heavy fatty deposits to be laid down in the arteries. A cholin deficiency also inhibits the utilization of cholesterol in the tissues, the burning of fats to produce energy, and the excretion of cholesterol in the feces.

Cholin can be made in the body from the amino acid methionine, provided the diet is high in protein; and blood cholesterol drops when this amino acid is generously supplied. All cells need methionine, however, and they have priority over the available supply; only when an "excess" exists is it changed into cholin; hence this vitamin is frequently deficient. Because eggs are particularly rich in methionine and lecithin itself, they should never be restricted in the diets of persons with atherosclerosis. When patients recovering from heart attacks received daily 2,000 and 750 milligrams of cholin and inositol respectively,
the size of the cholesterol particles and the amount of fat in the blood quickly decreased; two months later the blood cholesterols had dropped to normal. Blood lecithin has also increased and cholesterol been reduced after cholin alone has been given. Some investigators have observed similar results, but in studies where multiple deficiencies have limited lecithin production, cholesterol has not been reduced by cholin and/or inositol alone. Neither do a guard and a quarterback make a football team.

Liver, yeast, wheat germ, and particularly lecithin are the richest natural sources of cholin and inositol. In addition to using these foods liberally, I take daily and recommend to others B-complex tablets supplying 1,000 milligrams of both inositol and cholin.

Vitamin B6 And Magnesium

Lecithin cannot be synthesized in the body without enzymes containing vitamin B6 or pyridoxin. These enzymes, in turn, are active only if magnesium is present. Extremely severe atherosclerosis has been produced in a variety of animals kept on diets adequate in all nutrients except vitamin B6. When monkeys, for example, were given such a diet, the arteries in the heart, pancreas, kidneys, abdomen, limbs, muscles, and all tissues were clogged with fatty deposits; and blood analyses showed both an extremely low lecithin and high cholesterol. Though in every respect the condition was said to resemble atherosclerosis in man, monkeys given the identical diet including vitamin B6 remained healthy.

Diets high in vitamin B6, cholin, and inositol supplied by wheat germ, yeast, liver, or B vitamins extracted from bran have been particularly effective in reducing blood cholesterols. Liver not only contains lecithin and all of these vitamins but also less saturated fat than any other meat.

Even when vitamin B6 is adequate, a lack of magnesium prevents lecithin from being formed and thus inhibits the utilization of fats and cholesterol. Patients with heart disease given 500 milligrams of magnesium daily made "dramatic improvement"; and many of the blood cholesterols fell drastically in a single month.

The need for magnesium is tremendously increased when the blood cholesterol is high. For example, the magnesium requirement of rats fed hydrogenated fat and cholesterol multiplied 16 times over that of normal animals. Giving sufficient magnesium, however, prevented atherosclerosis from being produced despite feeding huge amounts of cholesterol and hydrogenated fat. Even after the arteries were severely plugged with fatty deposits, adequate magnesium caused the blood cholesterol to drop to normal and the arteries to become healthy.

The American diet is now extremely low in magnesium; this mineral is readily lost in the urine; and, because of the high intake of saturated fats, the magnesium requirement is apparently much greater than has been realized. For these reasons, inadequate magnesium may well prove to be a major cause of our national atherosclerosis.

Numerous toxic substances such as those from cigarette smoke, nitrites from fertilizers, and the deposition of cholesterol itself cause scars to form in the arterial walls. Fats are first laid down over these tough scars and may accumulate quickly until the flow of blood is drastically decreased or completely cut off at certain points. Vitamin E, therefore, is especially needed to help dissolve such scars. The scarring of arterial walls, however, is found in persons of every nation, many of which nations have little or no atherosclerosis.

Occasionally vitamin E has elevated blood lecithin and reduced cholesterol, apparently by preventing the essential fatty acids from being destroyed by oxygen. Moreover, this vitamin tremendously decreases the body's need for oxygen; hence it is particularly important to persons with atherosclerosis. Pain caused by a lack of oxygen, common in the heart, eyes, legs, feet, or any tissue where the circulation is decreased by fatty deposits, is often markedly relieved in a few days after vitamin E is added to the diet; and when patients have taken 600 units of vitamin E or more daily, the pain of angina has subsided, gangrene has cleared up, and amputation been avoided.

About The Author
David Crawford is the CEO and owner of a Male Enhancement Products company known as Male Enhancement Group which is dedicated to researching and comparing male enhancement products in order to determine which male enhancement product is safer and more effective than other products on the market. Copyright 2010 David Crawford of Male Enhancement Products This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.