Please pardon the harsh language, but I need to say this plainly and strongly.
EVERYTHING YOU KNOW ABOUT CHOLESTEROL IS BULL$HIT
Here’s a little crash course on cholesterol and heart disease. We know that most of the time atherosclerosis and heart disease patients usually have elevated levels of cholesterol in their blood. We also know that many of these patients have deposits of the goopy fatty stuff crusting on the insides of their blood vessels. These things are correlated, which means they are usually found together. That part is true. The conclusion that was made was that the dietary fat and serum cholesterol levels of these patients was the direct cause of the hardening of the blood vessels, the clogs and the heart attacks. That part is suspect, and the topic of this article.
That is certainly a possibility, but there are other ways to perceive this correlation. One popular theory is that other forces acting on your blood vessels cause damage and thinning. Different theories attribute this damage to anything from pH levels, to a lack of vitamin-C in the diet, to any number of other dietary and lifestyle factors. When this damage occurs in the artery walls your body directs cholesterol to the site and clumps it up to harden and support and patch the thin or damaged areas. This is only supposed to be a temporary fix, and if the conditions that caused the damage continue then the “patches” will continue to accumulate until they form serious clogs and cause heart attack or a stroke, among other things.
Assuming that the presence of a large amount of cholesterol in the blood is a cause is kind of like assuming that because you always see firemen at burning buildings that they must have set the fires. That’s not to say that high cholesterol is something to ignore. It can be a warning sign of some condition that has caused the need for those artery “patches” I mentioned. Then again it also can mean nothing at all. Some people have what is known as “familial hypercholesterolemia.” That’s just a fancy way of saying that they are genetically programmed to have high levels of blood cholesterol. Many people with this genetic predisposition lead happy and healthy lives without ever developing heart disease.
But let’s take one more look at that original theory about the dietary fat and cholesterol clogging up the arteries and being the cause of the problem. Ask any plumber and they will tell you that this doesn’t make sense. We can all agree that in the body it’s the largest blood vessels that run directly in and out of the heart that get all this clogging and hardening action. In terms of clogged plumbing, the smaller blood vessels would be the biggest problems first. They would clog up badly and way before the larger arteries were even a noticeable problem yet. But that isn’t what the findings show. The findings suggest that the clogging is directed and targeted in those large blood vessels, and if that’s the case, then the body is doing it itself, as suggested above. That would make the clogging not a cause, but a symptom of a larger problem.
I don’t mean to leave this topic on a down note, but make sure that you are assessing other risk factors when evaluating high cholesterol. Watch out for other factors that can create a problem such as a family history of heart disease, poor diet, smoking, sedentary lifestyle, high stress, etc. Be smart and work with a physician before making any decisions.
For more information (and a LOT of it) you can read more at THINCS (The International Network of Cholesterol Skeptics). It’s members include scientists from all over the world, including several nobel laureates. Some of them may disagree on what does cause heart disease, but they all agree that cholesterol does not.
If you’re becoming more conscious of what you put in your body, always remember that the simplest list of ingredients is always going to be better for you. A short list AND a list of words you recognize as actual food.
