Hello, I am Dr. Deok, a physician treating patients through functional medicine. Continuing from our last session, today I would like to talk about cholesterol. As you visit the hospital and age, the most commonly prescribed medications are for blood pressure and cholesterol. It is essential to understand your blood pressure properly and to make a correct judgment about whether you should take medication or not. However, many patients lack the ability to make this judgment, so they continue to trust and take the medications prescribed by their doctors. But if you understand what I have explained, it should not be too difficult to decide whether to take these medications or not. Today, I will also discuss the cholesterol medications that you commonly receive prescriptions for. Cholesterol, like blood pressure, is something that our body produces because it is necessary for us. We raise our blood pressure as needed, and...

Our body produces almost 80% of the cholesterol we need in the liver. The remaining 20% comes from the food we eat. If we eat pork belly and meat every day, it's natural for our cholesterol levels to rise. However, just because you stop eating meat doesn't mean your cholesterol will decrease. This is because the 80% produced in the liver continues regardless. Even if you are thin, if your body requires more cholesterol, the liver will produce more. Understanding this helps you realize why your cholesterol levels might be high. Typically, hospitals will tell you that your cholesterol is high and that it can pose risks like atherosclerosis, so it needs to be lowered without considering the underlying factors.

Because it's high, they give medication. However, I believe that's incorrect. The doctors who actually prescribe cholesterol medications argue that hyperlipidemia, which is a risk factor for atherosclerosis, is included. They give medication to lower it. When I first started YouTube back in 2007, I talked a lot about cholesterol; I have more than four videos on the topic. For those who are hearing this for the first time, I hope you go and watch those four videos before you listen to my final thoughts. I will assume that you have that knowledge as I speak. Ultimately, cholesterol is necessary for our bodies, so the correct approach is to find and address the root cause. It’s something that our body produces because it needs it, and if you just lower it without consideration, the necessary parts will inevitably suffer from a lack of it. Functionally, patients...

As I have been treating patients for a long time, I have concluded that people with high cholesterol can be broadly divided into three main groups. The first group consists of those who suffer from vascular damage. This is what some experts claim. However, there is a specific range involved. The reactive oxygen species that cause vascular damage are the culprits. When trying to heal damaged blood vessels, raw materials are needed. Cholesterol is sent as a raw material for this healing process. Consequently, cholesterol accumulates in that area. While it may seem to us that it is bad because it is gathered there, it didn't go there by choice; it went there with the intent of healing the damaged blood vessels. Therefore, it is not the villain in this scenario. Instead, once we have used it as needed, it should be able to return to its original place. This is where HDL comes into play.

When we talk about returning good guys and bad guys, that’s not entirely correct. HDL and LDL are essential for metabolism related to cholesterol. It’s important to think about why they increase and decrease. So, to reiterate, when there is damage to the blood vessels, the demand increases, which can lead to elevated levels. The second point is the intestines. The turnover of cells occurs most rapidly in the intestinal wall, which can spread out much wider than a soccer field when fully unfolded. As various battles occur within the intestinal wall, the mucosal cells shed and regenerate in just three days. This means that nearly 20% of what you see in your daily stool comes from the intestinal barrier. It’s quite significant.

When there is a loss and a new one is created, it tends to get more damaged or incur more harm, which increases the demand. For those who do not come to the hospital, cholesterol levels rise. Thirdly, cholesterol is used in various ways; it is necessary not only for the functions mentioned earlier but also for the production of hormones. When hormones are made, our body circulates blood and regulates blood pressure, and it also produces stress hormones. Additionally, sex hormones, including male and female hormones, are all made from cholesterol. Therefore, when there is significant loss in this area and the demand increases, more cholesterol must be produced, leading to higher cholesterol levels. This process operates systemically.

Naturally, the body produces a necessary amount of cholesterol. So, among people in our country, who eats meat at every meal? Among the patients I see, when I ask them, they say that eating meat once or twice a week is a lot. When I ask how much they eat, they say they eat meat about twice a week. This means that people in our country supply cholesterol through their diet, which is completely different from the Western diet. In the West, meat is almost always included in meals, so it's like a staple, just like rice for us. The concept is entirely different. Therefore, even if we try to control cholesterol through our diet, it doesn’t work. In most cases, unless we control the underlying causes of high cholesterol, it won’t come down.

It's important to understand this, and you must think about whether it's really right to simply take medication to lower it arithmetically. If that's the case, functionally, when such a patient comes in, how should we approach it? If you understand the points I mentioned earlier, through testing, we can find out which area has a higher demand and address that issue. By reducing the demand, we can reach a point where the liver can say, Okay, I don't need to produce as much anymore. This process may take longer to control compared to other factors, right? Whether it's the blood vessels, the intestines, or hormones, managing everything isn't something that can be resolved quickly with just a couple of treatments. It takes time to control cholesterol levels. However, you should know that for some individuals, cholesterol levels in tests can show...

The level is significantly low, but the person claims they are not taking any medication. In that case, I take this much more seriously. For such patients, when we say the body is not doing well, it indicates that there is a high demand for something. Despite that high demand, the body is only able to produce a small amount of the necessary medication. This leads to various complicated considerations: is it a signaling problem, or is the liver's ability to produce it also diminished? 

When a person with health issues comes in and has high cholesterol, that's quite expected because there are many deficiencies in the body, which results in the production of more cholesterol. Therefore, there’s no need to artificially lower it; if we treat the underlying issues, you'll eventually see it drop naturally. With that understanding, the supplements we recommend can be broadly divided into three main categories. The first is something I always...

As I have emphasized multiple times, there is berberine. Berberine has many functions, including lowering cholesterol levels. Therefore, it is effective among functional supplements. In addition to that, berberine also has the effect of inhibiting the overgrowth of bacteria in the intestines. This is important because, as I mentioned earlier, beyond simply lowering cholesterol levels, it also helps address issues such as intestinal permeability caused by an imbalance of gut bacteria. For these reasons, I believe berberine is an essential nutrient. Next, we have niacin, which is vitamin B3. However, niacin can have some side effects, so it is advisable to consult with a prescribing physician before taking it. Nevertheless, it is effective in increasing HDL and lowering total cholesterol levels, particularly LDL.

In addition to that, I often use Omega-3. Omega-3 can be understood as a type of fatty acid, similar to cholesterol. It is a high-quality fatty acid. You can think of it as providing good fatty acids where they are needed, thereby quickly reducing the demand in those areas. This concept means that the liver doesn't have to produce as much LDL unnecessarily. Therefore, consuming a sufficient amount of Omega-3 is completely beneficial. You shouldn't take it just because it's prescribed; you should make a good judgment about it. However, it’s not a medication that you can’t take under any circumstances. Nevertheless, it is currently being sold vigorously in the United States. If a wrong medication is developed, it will eventually be removed from the market, and new medications will be created, continuing this cycle.

I was going to give an example, but Pfizer's Lipitor was a best-selling drug, and when it hit its peak sales in 2006, it likely generated about 13 trillion won in revenue. After that, in 2012, the patent expired. Even after the patent expired, it has continued to generate over 2 trillion won in sales almost every year, making it a best-seller. When used for a short period, there may not be any significant problems. However, if used for too long, the issues that arise can be quite serious. If you look at the video I posted previously, you can learn about what those problems are. It's important not to rely solely on medication and to find the reasons why health may deteriorate. That is the key point of my lecture today. We will study up to this point. Until the day when the entire nation becomes healthy, Dr. Deok will be with you.

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