Dr Chalmers Path to Pro - Cholesterol
Cholesterol and heart health are often linked in ways that may not tell the full story. While many people are told to worry about high LDL cholesterol levels, recent research shows that the real culprit behind heart issues may not be cholesterol itself. Instead, factors like chronic infections, particularly those from untreated dental problems, could be playing a bigger role in artery plaque buildup.
This shift in understanding suggests that focusing on lowering cholesterol numbers alone might not be the best approach to heart health. Taking care of your teeth, eating less processed food, and managing stress could all be key steps in supporting your heart. If you’ve ever been concerned about your cholesterol or prescribed medication like statins, this offers a different way to think about heart health.
Highlights of the Podcast
00:04 – Misconceptions About Cholesterol
01:44 – Flawed Foundational Research
03:32 – Infections as a Root Cause
05:20 – LDL’s True Role
06:56 – Damaged Fats & Inflammation
08:33 – Importance of Oral Health
10:35 – Stress & Digestion
11:44 – Cholesterol Myths
12:38 – Dangers of Statins
14:32 – Processed Oils Are the Issue
16:29 – Heart Tests to Consider
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:00:04] All right, so, uh, want to run through some of the cholesterol stuff. Um, I keep getting people coming and asking me and they're telling me that they're horrified about their cholesterol levels and that their doctors are telling them they're going to die because they're LDL is one 20 and stuff like that. Um, so I kind of wanted to walk through where we are as far as knowledge and function with the research and things like that, so. Um, uh... First of all, we don't actually know exactly why plaque happens. Um, and it's not because you have too much LDL cholesterol. Um, it is, it does not because of your HDL LDL, cholesterol ratio. Um, It is not because the particle size and things like that. We do believe didn't see plays a role. Let's just kind of walk through some of this stuff. First of all, um, like I talk about all the time, there was a study, UCLA medical did a study in 2009 of 136,000 people who were in the hospital because they had a heart attack and like 75% of them had good cholesterol levels, good or normal within the range, cholesterol levels that would not, um necessitate a heart. Attack from the idea that heart attacks only come from high cholesterol, uh, and the studies that were done with the whole, this whole LDL cholesterol causes heart attacks things. Uh, came from really bad research. Um, in fact, it was, I would tell you it was fraudulent from the jump and not because they were trying to sell drugs at the time, but because this is what happens when you're trying to get your PhD. And so what happened was that it was a comparative study.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:01:44] The study that everything's based off of was what they said was we looked at all the countries and the guys who have high cholesterol also had high heart attacks. And so cholesterol and heart attacks are directly linked. The problem was, is that, that guy... Who the guys who did that research study found a whole bunch of people who had high cholesterol countries had high cholesterol and low heart attacks. And they found a bunch of with low cholesterol, high heart attacks, and they omitted that research from what they were doing because they wanted to, they wanted to drive this narrative that cholesterol was directly linked to heart attacks so that's where this whole cholesterol causes heart attacks thing came from what we're starting to see is, and this is the path where I. I track, this is what I believe what we're starting to see is, um, we actually are looking closer into the idea that plucking is caused not by the amount of cholesterol, but by infections. Um, more often than the systemic chronic, uh, infections are coming from the mouth, um, and whether it's, you know, bad oral hygiene or they have root canals and I've talked about how root canals leave dead tissue in the body. What a root canal is, they take the blood vessels and the nerve function from the tooth and they cut them out. And so now you have a tissue that is no longer getting blood flow, oxygen, nutrients, it's not removing waste, things like that. So the tooth dies, like it's dead tissue. And it'll last for a while, then it starts to break down and fall apart and that's what happens. But that, and then cavities, especially if you take a cavity and you put a mercury filling over top of it, those silver fillings, what ends up happening is that the bacteria that's still in that tooth is gonna go, It's not gonna go away. So it creates this chronic inflammatory infectious issue that drains in their blood and goes through the whole blood system and that type of thing.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:03:32] The reason that we feel that way, the reason I think that's the reason is because if you actually look at what's causing the plucking, the plucking in the arteries are what's from what's called foam cells. Foam cells are an LDL cholesterol that is full of macrophages and macrophage are kind of the chief, like white blood cells. Your immune system uses macrophages to surround bacteria and viruses and things like that. And then they literally squirt chlorine at them and they bleach them to death. And that's how your immune system kills viruses, bacteria and stuff like that, that's one of the reasons that consuming hydrochloric acid is so hyper critical to your overall immune function. Um, that's where these things are. And so if you're looking at them, you're like the plaque that, and there's research that they took the plaque out and they, they investigated the plaque, that was in these arteries and they found a whole bunch of bacterial infections and things like that in the actual plaque. Um, so the idea that the plaque is there, uh, because it's bad, isn't really what's going on. There's also evidence of damage to the cholesterol. So, it's very possible that... So the, the example that is used by lots of people, and I think it's a fantastic example. The fire truck burning house thing. So let's say you're from a different planet, different country, whatever, and you drive by a house that's on fire and there's a fire truck there and you go, huh, that's weird. And then you go to another fire and there's a firetruck there and another fire. And there's the firetruck there sooner or later. You're gonna be like these fire trucks are causing these fires because every time I see a fire, there's fire truck there. Cause you know what's going on.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:05:20] You know, the fire trucks are there to put the fire out to resolve the problem that is going on, so what it's looking like is that the, the body finds these viruses, bacteria, and all this stuff in the blood vessel all the time and they take LDL cholesterol because LDL, cholesterol is really kind of like a, like a troop transport. Like it, like the reason we have D three is because your body takes D two made in the liver, puts it in an LDL cholesterol and the LDL. Cholesterol carries it to the kidneys. Where it's then turned into D three. So there's a lot of things that your body uses LDL cholesterol to shuttle around the body. So the idea that the LDL, cholesterol made in the liver is then being packed with macrophages and taken through the blood system to then fight all the things that are there. When we have damaged cholesterol from basically poof, those, those polyunsaturated fatty acids, which are all your seed oils and all your manmade oils and your, all your hydrogenated oils and things like that. The things that man has messed with. It's funny, man messes with stuff and then we wonder why it breaks the body that man didn't build. I don't know. Maybe we should just quit messing with it, but that's different topic. Um, but so what ends up happening is that we've damaged this cholesterol. It doesn't function very well. And so when it gets there, it gets sticky. And so it plaques in the arteries. Um, and so that's, that's the theory that a lot of people are going with. It's not the, it's not that God messed up when he made cholesterol. It's that we've screwed up the cholesterol and the cholesterol is doing its job by, by carrying the macrophages to the, to the problem.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:06:56] And then once they get to the problem, the macros are trying to fix it, but we're just not giving it the stuff that the body requires to do it. And we're messing up our fats along the way. So, you know, cause if you look at lipid peroxidation, it comes from stress, it comes from bad foods. It comes from, you're a variety of different things, you know, lack of methylated B6 and there's all sorts of things that it comes. So, uh, reactive, oxidative stress issues and things like that. So that's what's damaging the cholesterol. We have damage. We have a damaged troop transport that is trying to do the job. It was supposed to do carrying the macrophages to the damage point where the, where the infection is infecting the blood vessel and the body's trying to do its job by cleaning all these things up and there's a failure in there and doing that. So, you know, and I think that there's been enough and you can look this up. There's been lots of research linking oral. Sorry, uh, infections and problems in the mouth, bacteria in the mouth to all sorts of cardiovascular events. Um, so that's why that theory is the one that I'm kind of leaning towards, which is also why I'm such a big fan of, you know, a high quality dentist, um, especially like the guys who are going to get anyone to use lasers. Like the dentist that we use when we, when we're sending people out to get mercury amalgam fillings removed is firstly is a dental dam, high vacuum suction, and they put oxygen in your nose that You're not breathing the vapors and the fumes are coming off of cracking and removing the mercury because mercury is extremely toxic and you definitely need to get out of your body. If you've got silver fillings or mercury fillings, but underneath there's always bacterial issues and things like that, because remember metal expands and contracts as it gets hot and cold.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:08:33] So as you drink cold things and eat hot things and things like that the metal moves just a little bit, allowing bacteria to get in. And so once you pull those mercury fillings out, you've got to go back through with like laser, or I prefer laser, or one of the high quality cleaning agent, clean that stuff out and then seal it with like a ceramic coating, which is the new, which a lot of the new white fillings are, they're ceramic paste that kind of goes over and seals it better. So that's the better route, but then making sure that the oral hygiene is really good is also super important, which, Brushing your teeth and flossing has, from research, been the best way to do that. Mouthwash is almost nothing. So if it makes your breath smell good and you like it, keep doing your mouthwash, but just realize that that's not helping you from a bacterial issue and theoretically, a issue with long-term chronic inflammation and chronic infection that could theoretically lead to more plaque in the arteries. Brushing is gonna be better, but changing the diet, and changing what's going in your mouth and changing the levels of hydrochloric acid in your stomach will radically help this process along the way because you're eating a lot of processed trash and you're bringing in extra stuff from the outside that your body is not used to dealing with. It's got to deal with that and the problems in your mouth. So the less of the stuff from the outside that all this process trash is more that we can remove the easier just for the body to fight everything else. But brushing and flossing kind of get stuff moving out is going to be really beneficial. I like to bring in, um, hydrochloric acid supplementation, not into the mouth, but in the stomach because the, the better, cause your, your body's supposed to have hydrochoric acid in the stomach. But when you get stressed out, this is one of the big things we see from sympathetic parasympathetic function. When you get stretched out and you move from resting, digesting, which is producing hydrochoric acid, you move into a state of sympathetic function where it shuts off digesting, you go into fight, flight, freeze.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:10:35] But when you do that, your body stops producing hydrochloric acid and it ends up producing more lactobacillus acid, which has a much different pH. Well, here's the thing, just like when you eat onions and garlic an hour ago, but you can still, you're still breathing it out and people can still smell it. The gas, the, the hydrochoric acid gas that's coming up is also cleaning your mouth. And so that's one of the things where putting, getting you, getting your stress levels down helps out. Um, you know, and the other thing is like, The easy piece is that when we see people with high stress, we see more H. Pylori function. We see more bacterial growth in the stomach, uh, because the HCL is not there to kill all that bad, uh viruses and I'm sorry, bacteria. So that whole thing kind of feeds into where this all functionally goes. So if you're worried about having a heart attack and stroke, do not let somebody tell you that you're safe or you're not safe by looking at your cholesterol blood levels. In fact, what's funny is that The research we have, which was, we're never going to get this again. Um, but, you know, cause the way they did it, but the research we have is that the healthiest level for LDL cholesterol is about 120 to 150, 160. So call it 135 to 150 140 somewhere in there, which is 35 to 50% higher than what the cardiologists are telling you that you need to be now. Because they're, Oh, if you're, if your one point, if you're 101. On LDL, then that's too much. And we can't handle that because you're going to die. Cause LDL is bad. Here's your statin drug. So the biggest problem we get into with this is again, um, once a pharmaceutical company starts making a lot of money on something, then they double down on the, Oh, this is a hundred percent. The only way we can do it. Like there's, there's no argument. The science is settled, but LDL cholesterol is a problem. So statin drugs solve the problem. They crush down, they hold down cholesterol. The problem with that is, like I said, LDL cholesterol is the main. Shuttle piece for your body. It's also what your brain is made out of. It's your heart's primary fuel source. It is also what all of your hormones are made out.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:12:38] So it's funny because people get on satin drugs and they go, man, Jim sucks. I'm sore all the time. I can't think right. And I'm my energy's low. You're not feeding your heart. You don't make testosterone anymore. So you can't heal, regenerate, and repair. So your joints are going to feel like crap. You're going to make a lot of the other hormones you're making, you're not going to be able to get your D three levels up. So yeah, it's going to highly problematic. So, you know, that's why the first thing I try and the research on statin drug shows that they have zero functional benefit over time, all cause mortality. They think that maybe, maybe you're going to get four days of benefit, but you're going to have a horrible, terrible life all the way up. And you might have other issues like dimension. Because again, your brain is made of cholesterol. So, uh, kind of take all this stuff into account. If you're on a statin drug, uh I'm not telling you that you should get off right now. I would go talk to somebody who knows metabolic biochemistry, um, and understands the research and isn't getting kickbacks from pharmaceuticals, which, you know, I keep saying that and people are like, that's not a thing that happens. And then as, as RFK is starting to expose us, we're like, oh yeah. Lots and lots and lots of kickback money from vaccines, lots and lots of kicked back money and stuff like that from different, uh, pharmaceuticals that are put out, you know, the, and then the hospital gets paid on the pharmaceutical sales as well. So the hospital sets mandates like, well, you have to do it this way. You have to it that way. So the system gets set up of if we don't prescribe, like I've talked to, I've talked to the cardiologist and I'm like, why do you guys always prescribe satin drugs, even if they're one point over? And they go, well, here's the issue because it's standard of care. So if you're, if you are one point over and they don't prescribe the statin drug and then a year later, you have a heart attack, they can sue you for violating standard of. Care, which is one of the reasons that all the cardiologists are like, if you were one point, over, we're going to recommend statin drugs. It's not because they think that you need them is because they don' want to get sued.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:14:32] So that's where a lot of this goes as well. So kind of keep that in mind. Um, the research has shown that the cholesterol is not the problem. Just the blood levels of cholesterol. The research is showing that lower cholesterol is substantially more detrimental to not only the longevity of your life, but it's obviously and unmistakably radically lowering your quality of life to decrease your total cholesterol levels. What we need to be focused on is getting the proper cholesterol in. Make sure the damage is not being done to the cholesterol. So that's all your seed oils. And real quick on that, You can eat the seeds. It's not. The seeds. It's not necessarily the linoleic acid that's in the seeds, it's bad. Eat your walnuts, eat your almonds, eat your sunflower seeds. Be careful with sunflower seeds, usually we're using sunflower seeds to leach lead out of the ground. So I would not eat a lot of sunflower seeds but in general, it is not the seeds it's the processing we're doing to the oils that we get from the seeds that's creating the problem. Again, when man messes with stuff, we screw it up. So just that's the overall, Yeah. Why should we not use processed foods? Because when man messes with something, we try to make it better. We screw it up pretty much every time. So just keep that piece in mind. But that's kind of where a lot of this stuff on the cholesterol levels are. If you, like I said, if you're worried about this, echocardiogram, that's a video of your heart beating. It's gonna show leaky valves. It's going to show all sorts of things. Placking, it'll show some placking. It'll show ejection fraction issues, which is how much blood's kicked out of the heart. It'll shows holes in the heart, myocarditis shows a lot of functional stuff you need to know. So getting that cool cardiogram, if you haven't ever had one and then get it. I'm a big fan of the CT angiograms. Uh, CT angio gram uses dye and yes, I know the dye has problems. I'm not a huge fan of dye, but I'm much bigger fan of having the dye and seeing the blacking. So you don't die, you know, that's kind of the big thing. Cause here's your, here's you're pipe, right? Here's your artery.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:16:29] If it's got this much dye in it, you're good. If it has this much die in it. That's bad. So like, that's why I like the CT angiograms. You don't have to get them every year. I would get them like, if you get one, you're totally clean. I wouldn't get another one for five to 10 years. In fact, if your diet's clean and your stress is clean and stuff like that, if he get one that shows you're clean, I don't know if you need another one, for you know, a while. If you're 55 or 60 and you have a zero plucking and you do it once, I wouldn' do it again because you're 55 and you had no plucking. And now you know how to treat your body and you know treat your life. So the chances you're going to get plucking from that point forward are really low. So. Usually one, a lot of people for one in your lifetime will get it done. So those are the two things, the CT angiogram and the echocardiogram. If you don't want to die, the calcium CT is quick and it's easy. You know, it's going to miss some of the soft plaque, but it's a great other option. Uh, the only problem with that is that if you have arteriosclerosis, the actual arteries starting to harden, um, the X-ray, the CT X-Ray can't figure that out. It can't figured out that the pipe is hard or there's stuff in the pipe. I can't figure that out. So it just goes. This is bad because we have a lot of people who will have just a standard calcium CT and it comes back really bad. And then they get in, they get an angio where they literally stick a camera up inside the blood vessel and they go, Oh no, no, your blood vessels are completely fine. It's just hardened and then like erythritol and there's ways of breaking that up and calming that down. Uh, but that's again, different conversation. So if you guys are worried about cholesterol, if you're worried about heart attacks and strokes, this is where we're actually at. Um, if your doctor is really pushing you for a statin drug and you don't want to do it, Uh, but you're worried about your heart and your diet and getting everything right back to where it's supposed to be. Give us a call, uh, pillars, wellness.com and we'll get you guys going. If you have any questions, questions@Chalmerswellness.com or drop them in the comments. Thanks for your time. You guys have a great day.
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Dr. Matt Chalmers
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