Industrialization has changed our past dietary habits of natural foods. At the same time, environmental pollution makes our food more or less contaminated. Hypertension, coronary heart disease, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, obesity and other cardiovascular diseases based on the typical symptoms of hypertension, hyperlipidemia and hyperglycemia have become the number one killer of modern human society.
Cholesterol is a lipid. A proper amount of cholesterol plays an important role in maintaining the composition and function of cell membranes, the formation of steroid hormones, bile acids, and the synthesis of vitamin D3. However, excessive cholesterol may induce chronic diseases such as coronary heart disease, hypertension, and myocardial infarction. Every year, more than 500,000 Americans die from sudden heart attacks caused by coronary heart disease.
When there is too much cholesterol in the blood, they will continue to be deposited on the blood vessel wall as the blood circulates. Under the action of serum fibrin, the blood vessels are narrowed, slowing down the blood flow, and may even block the blood vessels. As we grow older, this blockage will gradually make arteries lose their elasticity and become hard, and blood pressure will increase. Various nutrients and oxygen in the blood cannot reach the required parts well. Eventually cause coronary heart disease (hardening of the coronary arteries).
In recent years, people’s main method of lowering cholesterol is based on the transport mechanism of cholesterol, that is, lowering LDL-C (low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol) and increasing HDL-C (high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol) content. LDL-C is a lipoprotein that transports cholesterol from the whole body to the blood, and HDL-C is a lipoprotein that transports cholesterol from the blood to the whole body. Lower LDL-C, that is, reduce the cholesterol transported by the whole body to the blood, and the blood cholesterol will be reduced. In the same way, increasing HDL-C will reduce blood cholesterol.
There is also a contradiction in medication. There are many drugs on the market that can lower cholesterol, but they can cause serious side effects. The PDR warns pregnant women and people with liver and kidney disease to avoid cholesterol-lowering drugs. Even in healthy people, these drugs often cause abdominal pain, allergic reactions, emotional imbalance, hair loss, vision changes, headaches, sore throats, and muscle degeneration. Some patients experience impotence and decreased libido after taking these drugs.
At this time probiotic therapy highlights its advantages. Both in vitro and in vivo experiments have proved that probiotics can reduce serum cholesterol levels. Investigations in some tribes in Africa have found that people who take a lot of lactic acid bacteria fermented milk for a long time have significantly lower serum cholesterol levels than the general population. It is generally believed that probiotics use three different methods to lower cholesterol. First, probiotics interfere with the absorption of cholesterol in the intestines. This effect is obvious when a large number of probiotics exist. Secondly, probiotics can directly assimilate cholesterol. When probiotics are grown in a high-cholesterol medium, the cholesterol content is reduced. This mechanism was confirmed in this experiment. Third, probiotics produce metabolites that can affect the system’s blood lipid levels. The bile hydrolase produced by probiotics promotes the precipitation of cholesterol and bile acid, thereby reducing the chance of cholesterol entering the blood.
In a Swedish study, 30 subjects were divided into two groups. One group drank 200 ml of juice containing 50 million active lactobacilli per ml per day, and the other group drank juice without probiotics. After six weeks, the serum cholesterol and fibrin levels of the first group were significantly reduced. There was no significant change in the other group as a control.