Cholesterol. What images come to mind when you see this word? Is it positive or negative? Is it health, or is it heart disease?

If what came to mind was negative, as something to avoid, and heart disease, then pharmaceutical companies food industries have been successful in getting you to believe a fabricated myth!

According to George V. Mann, M.D., professor of Medicine and Biochemistry at Vanderbilt University, “Saturated fat and cholesterol in diet are not cause of coronary heart disease. That myth is greatest scientific deception of this century, perhaps of any century.”

Russell L. Smith, Ph.D. is author of book, The Cholesterol Conspiracy. Dr. Smith states that “Both public and clinical physicians have simultaneously been swamped by an ever-growing tidal wave of exaggerations, distortions and even fabrications of facts.”

Here’s truth. Cholesterol is good! It is a necessary part of every cell in your body and is essential in virtually all aspects of metabolism. Without it, we would die. That’s not impression you got from advertisers, is it!

Cholesterol is necessary for brain, nervous system, hormones, digestion, liver function, heart muscle contraction, calcium metabolism and bone structure and skin. Cholesterol forms 50 percent of nervous system and serves as conductor of nerve impulses. It is so important that your body produces four to seven times as much as you ingest and reduces its production to accommodate cholesterol intake from food you eat.

A deficiency of Cholesterol results in obesity, emotional disturbances, fatigue, impotency, and many more imbalances.

How Scam Begun

In early 1900’s, experiments were done in which rabbits were given extremely high amounts of dietary cholesterol. Their blood cholesterol rose twenty fold and a soft plaque like disease formed on coronary arteries. But cholesterol levels returned to normal and plaque disappeared when feeding was stopped. This formed basis of theory that cholesterol caused coronary heart disease in humans.

Here are flaws. The rabbits were given a synthetic form of cholesterol that easily oxidized when exposed to air (which made it toxic). Rabbits also do not metabolize cholesterol as do humans. Humans and other animals like dogs and rats do not develop atherosclerosis-like disease as do rabbits when given dietary cholesterol. And finally, humans do not develop soft plaque as did rabbits; humans develop hard plaque which does not reverse, and it is not caused by dietary cholesterol.

Eggs and Cholesterol

What if you could actually slow your rate of aging, and live healthier longer, simply by eating certain foods? U.S. Government scientists now say it’s possible.

Floyd P. Horn, then Administrator of scientific research arm of USDA, broke exciting news in February 1999.

“Young and middle-aged people,” said Horn, “may be able to reduce risk of diseases of aging -- including senility -- simply by adding high-ORAC foods to their diets.”

I don’t know about you, but I find that statement tremendously exciting: “simply by adding high-ORAC foods.”

Buddy, Can You Spare Some ORAC?

Unfortunately, most Americans have no idea that there may be a simple solution to preventing- or at least postponing- ravages of decline, disease, and feeble old age.

ORAC stands for Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity. It’s a test developed by USDA and Tufts University to measure antioxidant speed and power of foods and supplements. The ORAC test is quickly becoming accepted standard for comparing antioxidant capacity.

And as you may know, oxidative stress, or free-radical damage, is implicated in all diseases associated with aging, including cancer, heart disease, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, and diabetes- a short list of 5 major killers of Americans.

She Told You So

An easier way to understand ORAC is to look at particular foods. Let’s take spinach, for example. We all know spinach is good for us. Mom said so. And Popeye.

When USDA scientists tested spinach, they found it has an ORAC value of 1260 units per serving. So spinach qualifies as a “high-ORAC food,” which may help slow aging process.

It turns out Mom was right. She knew it would keep you healthier. But she probably never told you that spinach may keep you younger- to actually help you age more slowly.

Sound Alarm

We have an epidemic of age-related disease in America. The statistics are shocking. The CDC (Centers for Disease Control) in Atlanta now says that 80% of elderly Americans have at least one chronic disease. And 50% have two or more!