Cholesterol & mortality – world graphs

Executive summary

* This post shares my presentation, which was part of the Low Carb All Stars conference on the weekend of June 19th – 20th, and a key update from within it.

* A Monday note from November 2010 examined World Health Organisation (WHO) data for the average cholesterol levels and death rates for 192 countries. The deaths examined were from cardiovascular disease (CVD) and all-cause mortality. The associations between average cholesterol levels and deaths were collated for males and females separately. Four charts were thus able to be drawn. All associations were inverse – the higher the cholesterol levels, the lower the death rates and vice versa.

* Over many years, I kept looking for the data to be able to update these charts and some became available in 2020. The data for CVD were no longer available but data for non-communicable disease could be used instead. All-cause mortality data were available. Four charts could again be produced from the data – males and females, non-communicable disease and all-cause mortality – plotted against average country cholesterol levels. This time data were available for 181 countries. All associations were inverse – the higher the cholesterol levels, the lower the death rates and vice versa.

* These updated data were included in an academic publication in December 2020. If you need to be able to cite an inverse association between cholesterol levels and deaths, such a reference is now available.

Introduction
On June 19th and 20th, 2021, Dr Paul Mason hosted a Low Carb All Stars conference (online) (Ref 1). I wasn’t able to join in the Q&A sessions (I’ll be in Cornwall when you read this), but they were probably lively if last year was anything to go by.

 

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