I am returning to the Cholesterol topic today. Not that I am obsessed you understand. It's just that I've come across two recent articles that more or less support my views that a lifetime of taking statin drugs is not necesarily the only or best way to proceed. Certainly, I agree that having high cholesterol is not a situation to be ignored, and as such, something has to be done.

The first problem is that there are no symptoms for cholsterol. This means that once you are diagnosed as having high cholesterol, usually following a routine check-up or heart-related incident, you are hooked. The mainstream medical opinion is to start you off on statins with the eventual aim to get your cholesterol down to some mythical low figure, as if that is the end of the matter. Low cholesterol could well be the end of you instead.

However, thousands of people who begin statin treatment stop taking their drugs over the first year of treatment. Sometimes it is just because they don't feel any different. But most of the time it is because of one or more of the damaging side effects of the stains. Commonly, these include muscle pain and weakness, but there are many more that affect patients and tempt them to look for some other ways to lower cholesterol that don't include a lifetime's medication.

From a purely dietary point of view, grapefruit has been found to lower cholesterol. All kinds of fresh grapefriut seem to lower cholesterol, but red grapefriut appears to have the most beneficial actions. 'Fresh red grapefruit contains higher quantities of bioacive compounds and has significantly higheer antioxidant potential than blond grapefruit,' the researchers concluded.

That seems to be a painless way of putting a lid on your cholesterol level, but the only fly in this particular ointment is that grapefruit may interfere with the way some medications work. So, if you already take drugs for other conditions, you must find out if you could be affected. It has to do with affecting your liver enzymes and how they break down drugs. Be warned!

If you are not taking other drugs, there should be little problem with adding red grapefruit to your diet.

The second article is more to do with adding two things to your life to counteract the worst side effects of statin therapy. I've mentioned muscle pain and weakness as a major drawback of statin therapy. This effect follows the way statins work - they have a toxic action of the mitochondria in cells. These powerhouses are responsible for your energy supply, and statins interfere with their normal working thus creating the nasty side effect.

If you assume that you want to continue taking your statin, you can apparently minimise the side effect by taking green tea. This contains a substance called 'deoxysappanone'. This seems to cut down the free radicals, has a beneficial effect on motochondria and helps boost energy production.

And, while you're at it, since statins cut the supply of co-enzyme Q10 - a necessary chemical for optimum heart and circulation - supplementing with this substance will also help reduce the effects of statin therapy. Co-enzyme Q10 occurs naturally in foods such as fish and meat. And you can get supplement versions at most health shops.

There you have it. Ditch the statins and get a range of alternative ways of controlling your cholesterol and bringing levels back to normal. Or stick with the statins and try to control the side effects by a few simple changes to your diet and supplementation routine.

Find of all about cholesterol and controlling it by visiting my site at http://www.healthexplored.co.uk and clicking onto the sales page to find the big green heart. order this tell-all book and find all the ways to lower cholesterol and why you shouldn't getcholesterol too low for comfort. You get access to the instant download digital version, or drop me aline at [email protected] to order the print version.

Wishing you the very best of health.