TRUTH ABOUT CHOLESTEROL MEGATHREAD

Cholesterol is probably the third most feared thing today after Donald Trump and Gluten.

But I think that the fear is unwarranted, especially for keto dieters.

It's time to get to the real truth about cholesterol.

Here's why:

First off, this is not medical advice. I am a statue, not a doctor. If your LDL is above the reference range, you should work with a doctor. Before making any dietary changes, always consult with a healthcare practitioner. And if you're a vegan, please eat some steak.

FIRST, HOW DID WE GET HERE

Why did cholesterol get put into the penalty box? 3 studies

1. 1913 Russian study on rabbits showed that cholesterol caused lesions.
2. Ancel Keys and his cherry picked seven countries study
3. Framingham, MA associational study

All three ultimately led to the diet-heart hypothesis and Food Pyramid.

Cholesterol was the critical second link of the diet-heart hypothesis. The hypothesis was that saturated fat increased cholesterol. And based on the studies above, that cholesterol then caused heart disease

TRUTH ABOUT THE THREE STUDIES

#1 Rabbit study:

Rabbits are herbivores. Of course they react negatively to cholesterol...

#2 Ancel Keys

He cherry picked seven countries out of 22. After including all the countries there was no correlation.

#3 Framingham

A 30 year follow up to framingham actually showed a negative correlation between cholesterol and disease.

A decrease in cholesterol levels was associated with an 11% INCREASE in mortality

So of course the USDA and health authorities backtracked on their cholesterol recommendations and saturated fat vilification right…?

Of course not. They doubled down and still recommend people limit saturated fat....

STUDIES THAT CONFIRM LDL ALONE IS NOT PREDICTIVE OF HEART DISEASE

There are zero studies that show that high LDL is a risk factor, independent of triglyceride levels and HDL levels.

In fact @DaveKeto is offering a bounty for someone to find a study...nobody has been successful

In 2019, the BMJ reviewed 22 interventional trials and found that “‘The preponderance of evidence indicates that low-fat diets that reduce serum cholesterol do not reduce cardiovascular events or mortality”

RCT: Replacing Saturated Fat with Polyunsaturated Fats

Researchers lowered cholesterol like they intended by 14%.

But this led to a “22% higher risk of death for each 30 mg/dL reduction in serum cholesterol”

This study was BURIED for 40 years.

RCT: Sydney Heart health study

It was meant to support the AHA’s hypothesis but ended up revealing the disastrous consequences of seed oils

The group that replaced saturated fat with vegetable oils had a 62% HIGHER death rate despite lowering cholesterol

Well that backfired

@zoeharcombe aggregating World Health Organization Data from 192 countries showing a negative correlation between deaths and cholesterol in females.

RCT: Replacing Saturated Fat with Polyunsaturated fats (This was the govt recommendation)

“Available evidence from adequately controlled randomized controlled trials suggest replacing SFA with mostly n-6 PUFA is unlikely to reduce CHD events, CHD mortality or total mortality.”

LA VETERANS STUDY

They lowered cholesterol by 13% but showed no significant difference in myocardial infraction or sudden death.

In the experiment group there was a huge increase in linoleic acid in their fat and they had a higher death rate from non cardiac events.

This study from UCLA showed that 75% heart disease patients had LDL below 130 mg/dl — the level at which doctors prescribe statins.

This review from @LDLSkeptic show that higher LDL-C is associated with equal or greater lifespan .

When it comes to total cholesterol, a study in Hawaii found the same. Having low cholesterol for a long time actually increases risk of death:

SO WHAT BIOMARKERS ACTUALLY PREDICT HEART DISEASE?

Cholesterol is present in the artery walls of heart disease patients.

But it’s because it's there to rescue their artery walls.

It’s like condemning firefighters for starting fires just because they’re present at all fires.

In a recent study of 103,446 men and women, LDL levels showed very minimal effect on heart disease.

But an increase in triglycerides/HDL ratio doubled the risk of heart disease.

Photo from @FatEmperor

When insulin is low, high LDL particle count and high triglycerides don’t indicate that you’re at higher risk.

But when insulin is high, the risk of high triglycerides and high LDL is magnified.

Above, when fasting insulin is >15 uU/mL, your risk of heart disease with the same triglyceride levels go up 6.7x. And with the same LDL-P levels, it increases 11x.

@DaveKeto showed below that remnant cholesterol correlated highly with all cause mortality.

How is all this confusion possible? Because LDL does play a role in atherosclerosis.

It's just that the LDL that is taken up by foam cells that form atherosclerotic plaques / lesions is always OXIDIZED. It's not healthy, vitamin rich, fluffy LDL particles.

What oxidizes them? No, not reading vegan tweets.

Seed oils play a large role, increasing the susceptibility to oxidation.

You’ve been brainwashed into believing made up causes of heart disease:

Steak
Cholesterol
Saturated Fat

When in reality, the real cause is exposure to brand new foods & toxins that destroy mitochondria and LDL particles.