Cholesterol Lies & Truths “Cholesterol causes heart disease.” FALSE “Fat in your diet equals fat in your blood and fat on your body.” FALSE The mainstream theory that LDL causes coronary heart disease has been maintained by misleading statistics,exclusion of unsuccessful trials, and ignoring contradictory findings." TRUE
One topic of health and nutrition that has perpetuated more lies than truth is cholesterol. The genesis for much of the medical world’s misinformation about cholesterol can be traced back to Ancel Keys, who in 1961, famously developed his cholesterol hypothesis. From his research, Keys concluded that the consumption of saturated fat leads to increased cholesterol that clogs arteries and leads to heart disease. Though his conclusions were not statistically sound, Keys’ hypothesis became the basis for more than a half-century of medical and nutritional recommendations, which in turn have led to the demonization of fat and high use of statins. After his own hypertriglyceridemia diagnosis Dr. David Diamond, a neuroscientist, decided to research statins and began investigating how his doctor and the dietary guidelines could have gotten the science on cholesterol so wrong. Diamond reviewed cholesterol science, Keys’ findings, and statin research, concluding that, “People with high cholesterol have a significantly lower rate of cancer, infectious disease, and live [an] overall normal lifespan.” Many other researchers have come to the same conclusion. Keys constructed his hypothesis after 90
studying the diets and heart disease in countries across the globe. But his research left out nations with data that did not match the hypothesis, and even within the data he published, populations existed in which diet and heart disease were outliers to his model. This cherry-picking of data is simply bad science.
The Truth
Because he did not track information like sugar/ carbohydrates consumption in the diet or even the contributions of exercise, smoking, exposure to environmental toxins, as well as other potential confounding variables, Keys’ research is essentially meaningless.
IF NOT CHOLESTEROL, THEN WHAT CAUSES HEART DISEASE?
It seems glaringly obvious to us today that smoking, exercise, and other lifestyle factors play a huge role in general health and the development of heart disease, but these issues were not recognized as important in the middle of the 20th century. Since the release of the Keys’ theory, there have not been any actual diet studies which support his theory with hard data. And in fact, the amount of dietary fat consumed in the United States has steadily declined over the last few decades, but coronary heart disease rates are still increasing.
CHOLESTEROL IS NOT YOUR ENEMY. PLANTS ARE.
Cholesterol is not in and of itself dangerous and is absolutely essential to your body. We now know that sugar, not fat, is one of the largest contributors to coronary heart disease. Most of this damage comes from “metabolic syndrome”, a precursor for diabetes. “Unhealthy” levels of cholesterol in the body are not actually unhealthy, and about half of all heart attacks occur in people who don’t have elevated levels of cholesterol. This alone is a huge red flag that should point us in another direction for finding out what causes coronary heart disease.
Unfavorable levels of lipoproteins (cholesterol carrying molecules) in the blood are generated by eating a diet high in sugar and carbohydrates. Eating a diet consistently high in carbohydrates and sugar causes changes to body chemistry which lead to “metabolic syndrome”, diabetes, obesity, and then to heart disease. Dr. Diamond and his research team concluded that while statin treatment may reduce cholesterol levels, they do not, in fact, substantially improve cardiovascular outcomes, and serious adverse effects of statin treatment are highly underestimated. Approaches to improving cardiovascular outcomes that should be emphasized are stopping smoking, avoiding obesity, and consuming foods low in sugar and partially hydrogenated fats and high in saturated fats, such as coconut, butter, eggs and full fat cheese.
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