Cholesterol, Friend Not Foe

Contrary to popular belief, cholesterol is critical for building your cell membranes and is a naturally occurring product found in the body and made by the liver. Cholesterol is the parent molecule for major hormones like estrogen, progesterone and testosterone. It is critical to the immune system and the brain. Your body naturally produces three to four times more cholesterol than you eat. When you eat little cholesterol, the production of cholesterol by your body increases and decreases when you eat a lot. Cholesterol is your friend.

What is the truth about cholesterol?

Saturated fats are not dangerous. Saturated fats help cholesterol function as well as aid in the conversion of vitamin A and mineral absorption like calcium, provide satiety, carry fat soluble vitamins A, D, E and K, act as an antiviral agent and help to prevent cancer. Two major studies have recently confirmed that there is absolutely no correlation between saturated fat and heart disease.

The cholesterol theory is in part due to the Framingham Heart study from the early 1950’s, which included a dietary analyses of 6000 individuals who were questioned in detail about their eating habits. Upon further investigation of this study, no connection was found between the composition of the food and the cholesterol level of the blood. Actually, the more cholesterol and saturated fat people ate, the lower their cholesterol levels and the longer they lived. Unfortunately, thanks to this study statins are now the second most commonly prescribed drug in the U.S.

What we are told about cholesterol is also based on The Seven Countries Study performed in 1953 by Dr. Ancel Keys, which first started with 22 countries, of which only seven supported his views. The entire cholesterol theory to cut out butter, red meat, animal fats, eggs and dairy from our diets is false. According to Dr. Joseph Mercola, “If all 22 countries had been analyzed, there would have been no correlation found whatsoever.” In the past 30 years, Americans have dropped the proportion of energy intake from fat from 40% to 30%, yet obesity has rocketed. Sugar is the biggest culprit.

In fact, people with high cholesterol live the longest. Dr. Harlan Krumholz of the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine at Yale University reported that older people with low cholesterol died twice as often from a heart attack as did older people with a high cholesterol. High cholesterol is only a risk factor for less than five percent of those who die from a heart attack. There is no evidence that too much animal fat and cholesterol in the diet promotes atherosclerosis (plaque buildup in arteries) or heart attacks.

Now what?

To protect your heart and health eliminate all processed foods, gluten, GMO, artificial sweeteners and refined sugar. Eat organic, increase the amount of fresh vegetables, and eat naturally fermented foods to optimize gut bacteria. Limit fructose intake to less than 25gm per day from all sources and avoid trans fats and statin drugs. A Mediterranean diet is three times more effective at reducing cardiovascular deaths as statins. Drink plenty of natural spring water and incorporate healthy fats like avocados, unpasteurized raw butter, ghee butter, coconut oil, chia seeds, flax seeds, nuts, wild and grass fed organic meats, and free range organic eggs in your diet. Most importantly, if you want to avoid heart disease reduce your stress levels and get to the root of your emotions that cause you heartache.

To check your cholesterol levels and evaluate your heart health, please see a qualified naturopathic doctor.

Other Cholesterol Facts

• Stress causes a spike in cortisol, breaking down Vitamin C. Long term deficiency of Vitamin C causes a weakening of the arterial walls and then uses readily available cholesterol in the bloodstream to patch up the weakening arterial walls. This is known as atherosclerotic plaques or heart disease.
• Reducing body weight reduces cholesterol. Exercise decreases bad cholesterol and increases good cholesterol. On the other hand, Smoking increases cholesterol.
• A high-sugar diet raises your risk for heart disease by promoting metabolic syndrome—a cluster of health conditions that includes high blood pressure, insulin and leptin resistance, high triglycerides, liver dysfunction, and visceral fat accumulation.
• As recently as 2010, the current recommendations from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) call for reducing your saturated fat intake to a mere 10 percent of your total calories or less. This is astounding, and quite the opposite of what most people require for optimal health! The latest science suggests healthy fats (saturated and unsaturated fats from whole food, animal, and plant sources) should comprise anywhere from 50-80% of your overall energy intake.
• You may become aggressive or suicidal if you lower your cholesterol too much.
• In the UK, 60 million prescriptions are filled for statins every year, there is no evidence that they have reduced cardiovascular deaths more than can be accounted for by the reduction in smoking and life-saving treatments like angioplasty.
• In 2013, a prominent London cardiologist by the name of Aseem Malhotra argued in the British Medical Journal that you should ignore advice to reduce your saturated fat intake, because it’s actually increasing your risk for obesity and heart disease.
• High cholesterol is actually shown to protect against many infections.
• Statistics show that more than fifty percent of people admitted to hospitals with cardiovascular disease have normal cholesterol and those with high cholesterol are seen to have healthy hearts.
• The new cholesterol-lowering drugs, the statins, do prevent cardio-vascular disease, but this is due to other mechanisms than cholesterol-lowering. Unfortunately, they also stimulate cancer in rodents, disturb the functions of the muscles, the heart and the brain and pregnant women taking statins may give birth to children with malformations more severe than those seen after thalidomide.
• Dr. Malhotra says the strongest evidence in support of statins is to prevent second heart attacks, where patients receive the maximum dose, regardless of their total cholesterol levels. This is because statins are good at stabilizing coronary plaques and reducing inflammation in blood vessels.
• According to 2005 World Health Organization statistics, American men rank 83rd in the world in average total cholesterol, and American women rank 81st. In both cases, the average number is 197 mg/dL, just below the Borderline-High Risk category. In Colombia the average cholesterol among men is a dangerous 244, while the women in Israel, Libya, Norway, and Uruguay are locked in a four-way tie at 232.

References

1. Saturated Fat’s Role In Heart Disease Is A Myth, Says Heart Specialist. MNT. Medical News Today.
2. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/267834.php
3. Butter vs. Margarine. Food Matters.
4. The 6 Greatest Cholesterol Myths Debunked. Food Matters.
5. The Cholesterol Myths That May Be Harming Your Health. Dr. Mercola.
6. New Science Destroys The Saturated Fat Myth. Dr. Mercola.
7. The Cholesterol Myths. Dr. Uffe Ravnskov.