Bergamot a Food Answer for Statins

May 22, 2017

Bergemot - a Food Answer for Statins

 

 References:  International Jr of CardiologyScientific ResearchWikipedia,  BioMed ResearchReggio do Calabria


 Ever heard of Bergamot? Not me! You should. It's an ancient hybrid of mandarin oranges, pumalo and lemons but is now grown as its own fruit mostly in the Reggio de Calabria region of Italy and a few other isolated Mediterranean locations. It's not been used much outside of Italy, except perhaps as the flavor of Earl Gray Tea. 


There is an herb called bergamot but that is in the mint family and completely unrelated. This article is about the orange-like fruit with its unique compounds melitidin and brutieridin which have statin like qualities. Yes, statin like qualities. We know red yeast rice has statin like effects, but bergamot has not been well known. 


In one study, bergamot was added to rosuvastatin to see if there was similar or additional effects. There were! The bergamot lowered the LDL fraction all by itself, but additionally lowered markers of oxidative stress. This is the real driver of blood vessel damage. You can measure markers like malondialdehyde, oxyLDL receptor LOX-1 and phosphoPKB, (in research labs, not in practice) which are all biomarkers of oxidative vascular damage, in peripheral polymorphonuclear cells. 


  Another study from Italy looked at both cholesterol and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease markers against the use of bergamot. These are both independent markers of risk for subsequent heart attacks and strokes. Bergamot had pretty impressive effects. In the group receiving the bergamot extract of 650 mg twice a day, a statistically significant reduction of fasting plasma glucose ( 118 to 98) , serum LDL cholesterol (162 to 101) and triglycerides (232 - 160) alongside with an increase of HDL cholesterol (38 to 49) was found. Liver functions showing fatty liver dropped too. ALT went from 54 to 36 and AST from 54 to 41. Wow! Now, all of those same changes can be made by eating less high glycemic foods. Cut out all grains and sugar and eat lots of greens, healthy oils and vegetables and you can get much of the same. Or get ketogenic with 20 grams of carbs a day and you will see all the same effects. 


 WWW. What Will work for me. My eternal struggle to find a sensible role for statins keeps coming up short. And when I find a natural food that nature has made for us, I get great satisfaction. Bergamot has just been released as a supplement you can purchase. I'm adding it to my protocol for heart disease reversal. I am looking for folks who want to try it for three months and see what happens to an otherwise stable situation. I suspect it will have overlap for any condition that benefits from lower blood sugar: Alzheimer's and cancer to name two.


  Pop Quiz

  1. Bergamot is an herb that helps heart disease. T or F False.        Answer:  Get the details right. It's an orange family fruit. The herb smells nice but is unrelated.
  2. Bergamot appears to lower heart disease risk factors more than any other single food. T or F          Answer:  That is probably true
  3. We have great research showing that it reduces heart attacks. T or F                   Answer:   False. And we never will. There is no money behind this. It costs millions to follow people for years. But that doesn't mean it doesn't. It just hasn't been clinically proven. These two papers simply show that it has the same chemical effect as statins and lowers the key risk factors. You have to make a leap of faith to assume it would help. Probably a reasonable well founded leap, but still not proven.
  4. If you have fatty liver, you should take bergamot. T or F.     Answer:   Absolutely true. Fatty liver is a dangerous marker for both vascular disease, but also for sudden, unexpected liver failure. That's worse! Getting rid of fatty liver is a big deal.
  5. I need a prescription to get Bergamot. T or F                   Answer:   False. I have it in my office. MD Custom Pharmacy has it. Amazon has it. Don't get the essential oil. You want the orange extract. The oil is a mint family extract.
 

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