Tri-Chol (Cholesterol and Cardiovascular Support) 90 Caps
Tri-Chol (Cardiovascular Support) from Biotics Research Corp.
(Save 10%. Use Coupon Code: Biotics10)
Tri-Chol is a combination of herbs which include Guggul, Fo-ti, Asian water plantain, polygonum cuspidatium, and bitter orange. Tri-chol also has niacin, chromium, choline, and inositol all of which help bring down triglyceride and cholesterol levels. We have found that although the product is very effective for reducing total cholesterol levels, if the triglycerides are high, Tri-Chol should be used with ProMuti-Plus and ADHS.
Triglycerides will also drop if you limit your carbohydrate levels to 100 grams a day with 25 grams of carbohydrate eaten at a meal. Changing your diet to 2/3 fruits and vegetables and 1/3 grains and protein and upping your fiber to 25 grams or more a day and working out 30 minutes a day will really make a difference in your cholesterol levels.
Risk factors in cardiovascular disease
Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the leading cause of death in most industrialized nations, including the U.S. Most data regarding risks associated with cardiovascular disease in general, and CAD in particular, pertain to middle-aged men. However, after the age of 60, CAD is the primary cause of death among women (1).
Atherosclerosis accounts for about 50% of all female deaths, although most of these occur after the age of 70 (1). Primary risk factors for both genders include hyperlipidemia, hypertension, smoking, diabetes, work-related stress, age, hyperhomocysteinemia and obesity (2,3,4).
Recent studies indicate that physical inactivity represents an additional lifestyle risk factor that ranks as high as any other (5), and high alcohol consumption increases the risk of death from cardiovascular disease (6).
Primary prevention of cardiovascular disease
Most strategies for reducing the risk factors for coronary artery disease in women and men are the same. Increased physical activity, decreased hypertension, cessation of cigarette smoking, decreased serum homocysteine, and lowered serum LDL-C are generally recommended.
For American men, there is a 2 to 3 percent decline in the risk of CAD for every 1 percent reduction in total serum cholesterol level (13). Extrapolation of these figures to premenopausal women has been questioned because estrogen modifies serum lipids. An increase in serum HDL cholesterol levels is a strong predictor of decreased CAD risk.
Extensive research indicates nutritional status affects the levels of serum lipids. The consumption of certain saturated fatty acids, such as palmitic acid, can increase serum cholesterol due to decreased cholesterol turnover and are therefore considered atherogenic, while consumption of un-saturated fatty acids tends to lower serum LDL (14 ).
Specific nutrients modulate cholesterol levels
Niacin (Inositol hexaniacinate). Oral niacin lowers LDL-cholesterol, Lp(a), triglycerides and fibrinogen levels (15). Furthermore, oral niacin was shown to reduce mortality by 11% compared to the group receiving a placebo, while cholestryramine was associated with an increased mortality (16). Thus niacin also increased levels of HDL.
Furthermore, niacin resulted in a 35% reduction of lipoprotein (a), while lovastatin had no effect on this parameter. Another study focused on middle aged men with normal total serum cholesterol levels, but also with low HDL levels (18). In this group, niacin was found to raise HDL levels by 30%. One of the safest forms of niacin is inositol hexaniacinate, which has long been used in Europe (19).
Chromium. Chromium is an essential nutrient for carbohydrate and lipid metabolism. Significant numbers of Americans consume less than the RDA for chromium. The dietary requirement for chromium is believed to increase with glucose intolerance. When type 2 diabetics were supple- mented with 1000 mcg of chromium per day, for four months, the subjects had lower glycosylated hemoglobin, plasma cholesterol, blood glucose, and insulin levels than controls consuming a placebo (20).
In another study, patients with type 2 diabetes supplemented daily with 200 mcg of chromium complexed with niacin for 8 weeks experienced slightly lowered plasma triglycerides, LDL cholesterol and fasting blood sugar (21).
Choline. Choline is both a methyl donor and a building block of phosphatidylcholine. As the major phospholipid of lipoproteins, phosphatidylcholine is needed to move cholesterol and triglycerides out of the liver. Choline administered to lab animals decreased the amount of fat associated with the liver, but not carcass fat (22).
Diabetic rats often display fat accumulation in the myocardium. Treatment with choline and methionine dramatically reduced fat buildup and improved cardiac performance in these animals (23). Earlier studies had demonstrated that dietary choline increased biliary lecithin and cholesterol excretion (24).
Recommended use: 1 capsule twice daily with meals.
Caution: Not recommended for pregnant or lactating women
References 1.
Newham, HH, Silberberg. Women’s hearts are hard to break. Lancet 1997; 349: S13-S15. 2. Rich-Edwards JW et al. The primary prevention of coronary heart disease in women. New Eng J Med 1995; 332: 1758-1766. 3. Marmat MG. Contribution of job central and other risk factors to social variations in coronary heart disease incidence. Lancet 1997; 350: 235-239. 4. Nygard O et al. Plasma homocysteine levels and mortality in patients with coronary artery disease. N Eng J Med 1997; 337:230-236. 5. Eagles CJ, et al; Non-pharmacological modification of car- diac risk factor. J Clin Pharm Ther 1996; 21: 289-296. 6. Regal TJH. Alcohol and the cardiovascccular system. JAMA 1990; 264: 377-381. 13. La Rosa JC et al. The cholesterol facts: a summary of the evidence relating dietary fats, serum cholesterol and coronary artery disease. A joint statement by the American Heart Association and the National Heart, lung and Blood Institute. Circulation 1990; 81:1723-33. 14. Gillman MW et al. Inverse association of dietary fat with development of Ischemic stroke in men. JAMA 1997; 278: 2145- 2150. 15. DiPalma JR, Thayer WS. Use of niacin as a drug. Annu Rev Nutr 1991; 11:169-87. 16. The Coronary Drug Project Group: Clofibrate and niacin in coronary artery disease JAMA 1975; 231:360-81. 17. Illingworth DR etal. Comparative effects of lovastatin and niacin in primary hypercholesterolemia. Arch Intern Med 1994; 154:1586 95. 18. Vega Gl, Grundy SM. Lipoprotein responses to treatment with lovastatin, gemfibrizol, and nicotinic acid in normolipidemic patients with hypoalphalipoproteinemia. Arch Inter Med 1994; 154:730-82. 19. Murray M. Lipid-lowering herbs vs inositol hexaniacinate. Am J Natural Med 1995; 2: 9-12. 20. Anderson RA et al. Elevated intakes of supplemental chromi- um improve glucose and insulin variables in individuals with type 2 diabetes. Diabetes 1997; 46:1786-97. 21. Thomas VL, Gropper SS. Effect of chromium nicotinic acid supplementation on selected cardiovascular disease factors. Biol Trace Element Res 1996; 55:297-305. 22. Kenney JL, Carlber KA. The effect of choline and myo-inosi- tol on liver and carcass fat. Int J Sports Med 1995; 16:114-6. 23. Heyliner CE et al. Effect of choline and methionine treatment on cardiac dysfunction of diabetic rats. Diabetes 1986; 35:1152-7. 24. Robins SJ, Armstrong MJ. Biliary lecithin secretion. II. Effects of dietary choline and biliary lecithin synthesis. Gastroenterology 1976; 70:397-402.