Cholesterol Expert Dr. Kang shares Cholesterol management news and commentary at CholesterolNetwork.com. The HealthCentral Network, Inc. (www.HealthCentral.com) is one of the top health destinations on the Web, with more than 35 condition-specific, wellness and general health Web properties. http://www.healthcentral.com/cholesterol/c/59 http://www.healthcentral.com/cholesterol/c/59/rss self application/xml en-us 15 120 19 http://www.healthcentral.com/images/hc_logo_sm.gif http://www.healthcentral.com/cholesterol/c/59 http://www.healthcentral.com/cholesterol/c/59/32546/cholesterol-fatal Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:52:00 -0400 Dr. Kang Chronic kidney disease in itself has been found to be an independent predictor for the development of heart disease and is associated with an overall poorer prognosis. This effect occurs throughout the entire spectrum of kidney failure ranging from those with mild kidney disease to even those who have had successful kidney transplants.  In one study of a million people with kidney failure who were not yet on dialysis, the risk of developing... http://www.healthcentral.com/cholesterol/c/59/32546/cholesterol-fatal http://www.healthcentral.com/cholesterol/c/59/31373/high-cholesterol Thu, 19 Jun 2008 12:52:00 -0400 Dr. Kang It wasn’t too long ago that the annual mortality from HIV infection exceeded 20 percent/yr. Much to the credit of the scientific community which aggressively researched this disease and to the credit of our society as a whole for accepting the reality of HIV and making it a major public health issue, the annual mortality rate is now less than 2 percent/yr in just over a decade of therapy. The continued development of highly active... http://www.healthcentral.com/cholesterol/c/59/31373/high-cholesterol http://www.healthcentral.com/cholesterol/c/59/29792/cholesterol Tue, 03 Jun 2008 16:17:00 -0400 Dr. Kang Prostate cancer is the sixth most common cancer in the world and the second leading cause of cancer death in American men. Almost a quarter of a million new cases are diagnosed annually and the lifetime risk for a man to develop prostate cancer is one in six. It is a well known phenomenon that cholesterol and fatty deposits accumulate in solid tumors such as prostate cancer. Furthermore, very advanced cancer such as metastatic disease can... http://www.healthcentral.com/cholesterol/c/59/29792/cholesterol http://www.healthcentral.com/cholesterol/c/59/28421/good-cholesterol Tue, 20 May 2008 16:26:00 -0400 Dr. Kang As with any comprehensive treatment program to treat bad cholesterol, modifying what you eat remains one of the cornerstones.  Several herbs have been thought to improve cholesterol levels, and more specifically, the makers of several herbal supplements have claimed benefit with their product. Garlic is one of the most commonly consumed herbal supplements.  Among its many purported health benefits, which include lowering blood... http://www.healthcentral.com/cholesterol/c/59/28421/good-cholesterol http://www.healthcentral.com/cholesterol/c/59/26362/statins-lower-iq Tue, 29 Apr 2008 09:48:00 -0400 Dr. Kang   That’s a question more and more people in the medical community are beginning to wonder.  Anectodotal reports from several prominent physicians and medical centers have surfaced claiming that statins are associated with significant cognitive and memory impairment.  In most of the stories, the memory loss was temporary and fully returned once the statin was stopped.  The number of reports has reached a high... http://www.healthcentral.com/cholesterol/c/59/26362/statins-lower-iq http://www.healthcentral.com/cholesterol/c/59/26042/omacar-lovaza Fri, 25 Apr 2008 16:37:00 -0400 Dr. Kang In August 2007, I wrote a series of articles about high triglycerides and heart disease.  In summary, high triglycerides moderately increase your risk of heart disease.  A normal level is <150mg/dl and a high level is >200mg/dl.  Certain conditions such as obesity, low thyroid levels, and certain medications can contribute to increasing triglyceride levels. The main cause of high levels appears to be genetic. ... http://www.healthcentral.com/cholesterol/c/59/26042/omacar-lovaza http://www.healthcentral.com/cholesterol/c/59/21203/drug-ads-drug Thu, 06 Mar 2008 12:17:00 -0500 Dr. Kang An interesting article appeared in USA Today concerning the influence of pharmaceutical advertising on prescription practices by physicians. The survey performed by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health reported that prescription drug ads prompt nearly a third of Americans to ask their doctors about a specific advertised medicine. In turn, 82% of those who asked their physician eventually received a prescription.... http://www.healthcentral.com/cholesterol/c/59/21203/drug-ads-drug http://www.healthcentral.com/cholesterol/c/59/20576/lipoproteina Tue, 26 Feb 2008 09:43:00 -0500 Dr. Kang Our body's lipids such as triglycerides and cholesterol are insoluble in circulating plasma (the fluid component of our blood.) In order to carry around these lipids, we must package them with proteins to make them dissolve in plasma. These proteins are called apolipoproteins. Apolipoproteins + lipids together make up what is called a lipoprotein. Some well known lipoproteins are LDL and HDL. These apolipoproteins serve a variety... http://www.healthcentral.com/cholesterol/c/59/20576/lipoproteina http://www.healthcentral.com/cholesterol/c/59/19498/ezetimibe-gun Wed, 23 Jan 2008 13:46:00 -0500 Dr. Kang "This is a pretty clear failure. Physicians should now stop using ezetimibe or Vytorin except as a last resort." - Dr. Steven Nissen (Cleveland Clinic, OH)   "Dr. Nissen's suggestion about a moratorium on ezitimibe is rather alarmist, given that this was just an imaging study, and an imaging study should not change clinical practice." - Dr. Robert Harrington (Duke Clinical Research Institute, Durham, NC) ... http://www.healthcentral.com/cholesterol/c/59/19498/ezetimibe-gun http://www.healthcentral.com/cholesterol/c/59/18965/zetia-liver Mon, 14 Jan 2008 15:20:00 -0500 Dr. Kang In December 2007, the New York Times published an article entitled "Data about Zetia risk was not fully revealed." The article claimed that Merck and Schering-Plough, the manufacturers of Zetia (aka ezetimibe), have information pertaining to the risk of liver damage when taking this cholesterol lowering medication in combination with statin drugs but that the companies have not released them to the public. The 2 companies... http://www.healthcentral.com/cholesterol/c/59/18965/zetia-liver