{"id":1566,"date":"2011-06-28T09:18:18","date_gmt":"2011-06-28T08:18:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zoeharcombe.com\/"},"modified":"2024-04-08T09:23:36","modified_gmt":"2024-04-08T08:23:36","slug":"we-have-got-cholesterol-completely-wrong","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.zoeharcombe.com\/the-knowledge\/we-have-got-cholesterol-completely-wrong\/","title":{"rendered":"We have got cholesterol completely wrong"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Here are six things that we need to know about cholesterol:<\/p>\n

i)\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0It is virtually impossible to explain how vital cholesterol is to the human body. If you had no cholesterol in your body you would be dead. No cells, no bone structure, no muscles, no hormones, no sex, no reproductive system, no digestion, no brain function, no memory, no nerve endings, no movement, no human life \u2013 nothing without cholesterol. It is utterly vital and we die instantly without it.<\/p>\n

ii)\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Cholesterol is so vital to the body that our bodies make it. The body cannot risk leaving it to chance that we would get it externally from food or some other external factor \u2013 that\u2019s how critical it is.<\/p>\n

iii) There is no such thing as good cholesterol and bad cholesterol. Cholesterol is cholesterol. The chemical formula for cholesterol is C27<\/span>H46<\/span>O. There is no good version or bad version of this formula.HDL is not even cholesterol, let alone good. LDL is not even cholesterol, let alone bad. HDL stands for High Density Lipoprotein. LDL stands for Low Density Lipoprotein. (There are three other lipoproteins, by the way, chylomicrons, VLDL and IDL).<\/p>\n

Fat and cholesterol are not <\/em>water soluble so they need to be carried around the body in something to do their vital work. The carriers of such substances are called lipoproteins. We can think of lipoproteins as tiny \u2018taxi cabs\u2019 travelling round the blood stream acting as transporters. So, lipoproteins are carriers <\/em>of cholesterol \u2013 oh \u2013 and triglyceride and phospholipids and protein. All lipoproteins carry all of these substances \u2013 just in different proportions. LDL would more accurately be called the carrier of fresh cholesterol and HDL would more accurately be called the carrier of recycled cholesterol.<\/p>\n

iv)\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0The standard blood cholesterol test does not measure LDL\u00a0 \u2013 it estimates it. The fasting blood cholesterol test can only measure total cholesterol and HDL. There are two other unknowns in a four variable equation \u2013 LDL and VLDL. The estimation is refined further using the Friedewald equation (named after William Friedewald, who developed it).<\/p>\n

Total cholesterol = LDL + HDL + Triglycerides\/5 (Ref 1) (More detail here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

As any mathematician will tell you, one equation, with four variables, only two of which can be measured, is a fat lot of good. We need at least one more equation or known variable, to avoid circular references. This also means that:
\n–\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0All other things being equal, LDL will rise if a) total cholesterol rises and\/or b) if HDL falls and\/or if c) triglycerides fall.
\n–\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0All other things being equal, LDL will fall if a) total cholesterol falls and\/or b) if HDL rises and\/or if c) triglycerides rise.<\/p>\n

No wonder an inverse association is observed between LDL and HDL \u2013 it is by definition. More surprising is that a fall in triglycerides, which would be welcomed by doctors, would be accompanied by an automatic increase in LDL, all other things being equal, which would not <\/em>be welcomed by doctors. And you thought that this was scientific.<\/p>\n

v)\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Statins stop the body from producing the cholesterol that it is designed to produce. They literally stop one of our fundamental body processes from being able to function. The intelligent view on statins is that in the very limited arena where they appear to have some \u2018benefit\u2019 (men over 50 who have already had a heart attack), they \u2018work\u2019 by having anti-inflammatory properties and that the fact that they lower cholesterol (by stopping the body from being able to produce this vital substance) is a very unfortunate side effect. (Drug companies should work on developing something that has the anti-inflammatory benefit without this huge and damaging side effect \u2013 it\u2019s called aspirin).<\/p>\n

One in 500 people have familial hypercholesterolemia and may have a problem clearing cholesterol in their body (rather like type 1 diabetics who can\u2019t return their blood glucose levels to normal). For anyone else to be actively trying to lower their vital and life affirming cholesterol levels is deeply troubling.<\/p>\n

vi)\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u201cCholesterol in food has no impact on cholesterol in the blood and we\u2019ve known that all along.\u201d Ancel Keys.<\/p>\n

Ancel Keys, the same man who did the brilliant Minnesota starvation experiment, spent the 1950\u2019s trying to show that cholesterol in food was associated with cholesterol in the blood. He concluded unequivocally that there was not even an association, let alone a causation. He never deviated from this view.<\/p>\n

Cholesterol is only found in animal foods (it is a vital substance for every living creature). Hence the only foods that Keys could add to human diets, to test the impact of cholesterol, were animal foods. Given that he concluded that eating animal foods had no impact on blood cholesterol levels, it follows that animal foods per se have no impact on blood cholesterol levels (not that high cholesterol is a problem but that\u2019s another story<\/a>).<\/p>\n

There is no need, whatsoever, to avoid liver, red meat, other meat, fish, eggs, dairy products etc for any cholesterol that they may contain.<\/p>\n

The body makes cholesterol. I worry about a number of things, but I don\u2019t worry that my body is trying to kill me.<\/p>\n

UPDATE: Following numerous blog comments\u00a0from people “worried about cholesterol”, I’ve written this post<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ref 1: EH Mangiapane, AM Salter, Diet, Lipoproteins and Coronary Heart Disease: A Biochemical Perspective, Nottingham University Press, (1999). (See reference 159 The Obesity Epidemic<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here are six things that we need to know about cholesterol: i)\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0It is virtually impossible to explain how vital<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":1535,"menu_order":6,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zoeharcombe.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1566"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zoeharcombe.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zoeharcombe.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zoeharcombe.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zoeharcombe.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1566"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.zoeharcombe.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1566\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10401,"href":"https:\/\/www.zoeharcombe.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1566\/revisions\/10401"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zoeharcombe.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zoeharcombe.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zoeharcombe.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}