I've read the two books listed above recently by doctors that have analyzed all of the major studies of the past 50 years and shown how they were 'doctored up' to prove untruth, or that they in fact proved the opposite of what they were trying to prove, but the results were simply disbelieved or ignored by the AMA, FDA, and Big Pharm. there is no such thing as a 'cholesterol level' in the blood, there is only HDL and LDL (lipoproteins that carry cholesterol to and from the liver) , and no proof that even those levels are anything but a 'marker' for something systemic gone wrong - which may have nothing to do with cholesterol. For instance, if you have a very high HDL, that is NOT 'good', but an indication of something gone wrong. Too low LDL is also not good, because LDL is a natural anti-bacterial agent.
The evidence shows no relation to the consumption of either cholesterol or saturated fat in the diet contributing to heart disease or anything else, or, for that matter, of so-called 'high' cholesterol levels having ANY connection to heart or stroke problems either. Rather, too many carbs, inflammatory omega-6 oils, and sugars does: they go right to fat storage and disease. Even the man singly responsible originally for the saturated fat scare, Ancel Keys, changed his mind after looking at the next thirty years of studies on it. Same thing happen with Pasteur and the germ theory: he recanted it entirely on his deathbed, saying that his rival "Bechamp was right: the germ was nothing, the environment everything," by 'environment' meaning the immune system and cellular milieu. Yet the propaganda by Big Pharm about cholesterol and fat continues, largely to sell unhealthy, ineffective, and unproven statin drugs in great quantities.
Studies have shown cultures with all of the official risk factors having low heart disease, while other cultures with none of the official risk factors having high heart disease. People still think (doctors included) that the bloodstream is like a sewer pipe that catches sludge (cholesterol) running through it. But that is not how a plaque is formed. There is inflammation of some kind, that causes damage to the artery wall (not all arteries (and never veins), and only arteries with a lot of turbulence such as coronaries and carotids), then the body forms a scab over it, then endothelium or artery inner lining, thus repairing the damage, healing the wound which the body does naturally. But repeated damage and clotting inside the wall of the artery, from thrombi forming leads to that getting rescabbed over, then eventually a plaque forms as a kind of boil; it then bursts, and then the body clots over it again, and it gets big enough to push the artery wall 'out' into the canal, thus forming a blockage. The answer seems to be that stress causes a rise in cortisol and insulin, and damage to the artery lining. There are other causes, too (like homocysteine, or even Vitamin C deficiency causing leakage), but cholesterol isn't one of them. Blaming cholesterol is like blaming a bandaid for the wound.
Statins have some benefit to 'older men who already have heart disease' (approximately 1% less risk of a future non-fatal attack) because they have an anti-clotting effect - much like aspirin and fish oil. In women there is no correlation at all. In all other populations they have zero effect in reducing death (because the 1% drop in stroke risk is counterbalanced by the higher increased cancer risk!). Statins are not very effective at increase the 'good cholesterol', HDL (which is not actually cholesterol but a lipo-protein carrier of cholesterol among other things, like microbes), while natural niacin (B3) is. They do reduce the so-called 'bad- cholesterol', LDL, however, because that is what statins (and natural substances like red rice yeast) do: they interfere with an enzyme responsible for producing cholesterol, but also CoQ10, which is why you have to take CoQ10 if you take a statin or you may get heart disease because lack of CoQ10 destroys muscle (and also can cause neuropathy, jaw necrosis, many other things). That is why you are starting to see adds for CoQ10 on TV. Merck and others had two patents to produce statins with CoQ10 20 years ago but decided not to pursue it, probably because they knew that if they said why you needed it, people would not take the statins!
A friend of mine who has worked as a nurse in a major hospital for forty years wrote to me:
"Thanks. Great response. I have heard the same from a talk by a cardiac surgeon that it is the inflammation and sugar and processed polyunsaturated (omega-6) vegetable oils that cause the cardiac disease."
I find it understandable but still hard to believe that anyone after reading even the summaries of the studies find it all 'far-fetched'. Most current news articles still cite the famous Framington Heart Study, and more recent ones like the Jupiter trials - both of which and many more that have been thoroughly debunked by serious investigators as evidence supporting the heart disease-cholesterol-saturated fat connection. It seems just the result of years of relentless successful programming and too much adverse pressure in the field. You don't learn it even remotely in four years of Med school, you must do your own research. Repeat "cholesterol = bad" enough times and one will believe it. It is hypnotic programming, thanks to a master propagandist named Bernay's back into the 1930's whom the AMA hired to promote themselves. [Don't believe me? Please don't take my word for it; after all, what do I know, I'm just a simple country chiropractor. But investigate for yourself, if you dare to go down the rabbit-hole - this is not really a secret.
Here are some more facts:
LDL (so-called ‘bad’ cholesterol) inactivates 90% of bacterial toxins. It acts as an antioxidant.
Eating fat has no effect on HDL (so-called ‘good’ cholesterol). All fat consumed is absorbed by chylomicrons produced in the gut and goes directly to fat cells where the triglycerides are dropped, bypassing the liver totally. Any excess that does go to the liver does not get turned in HDL. There is no correlation at all. it does not just clog up the bloodstream; the body is much smarter than that.
Carbohydrates raise LDL levels, not eating fat. Even so, the body adapts well unless it is totally out of wack and LDL levels are quickly returned to a base-line. They do not vary much for months, even years.
Leptin is the most important hormone in the body. It is a measure of fat regulation, telling our body we have had enough, and not to go into starvation mode and store fat. Which in turn regulates insulin, and the hypothalamus, pituitary, then the adrenals.
Some studies turn to a rare genetic condition known as FH (Falimila Hypercholesteremia, where cholesterol levels are way above 250. However, even in this population less than 1% develop heart problems related to it - and the problem is not the chlesterol! Some think it may be lipoprotein-a which is the culprit there, but it may also be an excess of fibrinogin which causes excess clotting. The lipoprotein-a (which is NOT cholesterol) is even smaller than HDL, and can get in between the cells in the endothelium in the artery walls, causing inflammation, which starts the plaque formation process; the clotting then is formed by the excess of fibrinogen.. Even so, only a very few % of those with the gene for FH get heart disease; the population in total has essentially the same life span as all others - and less cancer. This finding of FH people was another one of the things that early researchers of the cholesterol hypothesis grabbed onto as proof of the whole theory, but it turned out to be wrong.
The brain is made of more than 50% fat; the body's highest concentration of omega-3's are in the brain; up to 25% of the human brain's fatty acid sores are of DHA, found primarily in cold water fish and grass fed animals. Humans are unique among primates in this.
50% of the brain isactually saturated fat, needed for the protection and stabilization of the more delicate and unstable omega-3 fatty acids.
The body's richest concentration of cholesterol is in the brain - 25% of the body's total cholesterol. Cholesterol enhances signal transport and the functioning of the synapses of our brain cells and protects this bioelectrical signal from leakage in the myelin sheath (the insulators of the nerves). It also protects the brain cells from oxidative damage. Sufficient dietary and cellular cholesterol are critical for healthy cognitive and memory function. See Lipitor: Thief of Memory, by a former navy doctor, whose own doctor kept upping his Lipitor dosage even after he told him of his memory problems. Pretty soon he couldn't remember what he did for a living. Even after this his own doctor refused to believe his story. Some people are hard nuts to crack.
My great-grandparents lived in a farm. All they ate was meat, eggs, butter, lard, cheese, milk and vegetables and they lived to a hundred. Can't be all that bad.
Now they put a lot of bad stuff in commercial bacon - i.e., nitrates, etc., that are carcinogenic. And frying the oil too long probably isn't that good, although frying in vegetable oil is worse and more dangerous. I'm not into that into this level of this discussion right now, just want to stick to emphasizing certain reasonable basics. My parents ate the traditional bacon and eggs, too, and they lived pretty long - had a few bad habits like alcoholism and cigarettes, white bread, no vegetables - but still made it to 85.
Dr. Kendrick in the book listed above, after eliminating every existing theory on heart disease, comes to the conclusion, reached 150 years ago, that the major culprit by far remains stress - as well as smoking, both of which constricts one's coronary arteries.
My advice is for one to google these things and convince oneself - no need to swallow the established interests' lies indiscriminantly
