Debunking Cholesterol Myths

Debunking Cholesterol Myths

Cholesterol Crystals Synovial Fluid Polarized Light

By Raluca Schachter

When a big, fat lie built around such a sensitive and health threatening
issue becomes way too widespread, that even the authors start to
believe it, it is really hard to turn the tide without major
consequences.

We live in a time where we have GMO producers who won’t touch their
food, but eat only organic instead, vaccine promoters and producers who
won’t vaccinate their own kids or themselves, and of course, cholesterol
lowering medication producers and promoters who won’t take their
statins or give them to their family. It makes you wonder, doesn’t it?

So what kind of cholesterol “myths” has the population been fed all this time through heavy marketing? Let’s take a look!



Myth #1 : High LDL Causes Atherosclerosis and Heart Disease

An important factor in atherosclerosis and heart disease has been detected for oxidized LDL, but this form of LDL shows no correlation with serum levels of native LDL. Rather, individual antioxidant status appears to be a key factor influencing serum concentrations of oxidized LDL.

Where does oxidized cholesterol come from? It comes from artificial,
partially hydrogenated oils (trans fats), vegetable oils, genetically
modified food, a diet high in refined sugars, alcohol and tobacco. Damaged cholesterol is found in powdered eggs, in powdered milk (added to reduced-fat milks to give them body) and in meats and fats that have been heated to high temperatures in frying and other high-temperature processes.




When there is a high level of oxidation present in the body, there also tends to be free radical activity in the tissues. Your
body creates more cholesterol as a response to deal with inflammatory
issues within the body. So cholesterol is not the problem, it is merely
the solution your body is using to try and heal itself. Inflammation in
the arterial walls is the real danger, and if left unchecked the
swelling can eventually shut off blood flow to the heart or brain, which
can cause a heart attack or stroke. In fact, the ratio of triglycerides
to HDL cholesterol is probably the number one risk factor for
cardiovascular disease.

In the war against the “cholesterol demon”, the high levels of a substance called homocysteine are often forgotten. Homocysteine
has been correlated with pathological build up of plaque in the
arteries and the tendency to form clots which is a deadly combination.
Nutrients that lower homocysteine levels are folic acid, vitamins B6 and
B12 and choline which are found mostly in animal foods.

So is high serum cholesterol useless? NO! It definitely indicates the
presence of a metabolic imbalance, that there is much damage in the body
that requires repair.

Then what are the real causes of heart attacks and strokes? They are:

• High triglycerides
  
• Low HDL cholesterol
  
• High homocysteine levels
  
• Dietary deficiency of saturated fats and cholesterol
  
• Overload of oxidized cholesterol containing foods
  

Myth #2: “Good” and “Bad” Cholesterol

The two most abundant lipoproteins in the body are the low-density
lipoprotein (LDL) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL). The main function
of LDL is to transport cholesterol from the liver to tissues that
incorporate it into cell membranes. HDL carries “old” cholesterol that
has been discarded by cells back to the liver for recycling or
excretion. LDL and HDL are neither “good” or “bad”, they are just cholesterol.

The
new fabricated theory which had to incorporate the “”good – bad
cholesterol” paradigm states that: LDL cholesterol forms “fatty
deposits” in arterial walls, which become plaques that grow, rupture,
and stimulate the formation of artery-blocking blood clots. HDL
cholesterol, on the other hand, is the “heart-friendly” lipoprotein that
counters the action of LDL by removing cholesterol from the arteries
and transporting it back to the liver for safe disposal. This paradigm
is overly simplistic and not supported by the overwhelming scientific,
historical and clinical evidence.


Myth #3: Saturated Fat and Cholesterol Rich Foods Are Bad and Raise Your “Bad” Cholesterol

Back in the 1960′s the average medical doctor totally ignored high cholesterol unless it exceeded 300!

Now, anything above 250 (or even lower than that) is considered a
problem, and it is generally recommended that people should avoid eating
too many eggs or too much meat because of the risk of heart disease
from cholesterol intake.

You think that the medical profession suddenly had an epiphany, deciding cholesterol was dangerous? No! It was the processed food industry who started the big anti-cholesterol movement, lead in particular by the seed oil industry!!
Archer Daniels Midland wanted to sell an ocean of soybean oil, and thus
lead the charge against cholesterol in particular and saturated fat in
general. Coconut and palm oils were banned from importation, butter
consumption dramatically plummeted and everyone “knew” that margarine
was going to save the nation!

Then, the Statin drugs were invented accompanied by a “paradigm shift”
in the medical establishment and the war against cholesterol and
saturated fat.

Although ignored by the “opinion leaders” in the medical field, studies
which confirmed this fallacy continued to be published. Research
published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, 1999;
281(15):1387-94) showed that there was absolutely no connection between eating eggs and the risk of heart disease or stroke in either men or women.

A study done by Gilman, et al and published in the December 24, 1997 Journal of the American Medical Association found that …
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
THE MORE SATURATED FAT YOU EAT, THE LESS LIKELY YOU ARE TO SUFFER A STROKE.</blockquote>
This study actually was able to quantify the protective effect of saturated fats:
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
YOUR RISK OF STROKE DECREASES BY 15% FOR EVERY 3% INCREASE IN YOUR SATURATED FAT INTAKE.</blockquote>
William Castelli, M.D., a former director of the Framingham Heart Study
(the one that originally supposedly implicated cholesterol as a problem
in cardiovascular disease) notes that:
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
PEOPLE WITH LOW CHOLESTEROL (LOWER THAN 200) SUFFER NEARLY 40% OF ALL HEART ATTACKS.</blockquote>
An
interesting study was done by Leddy, et al and published in 1997 in
Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, Volume 29, where
participants were elite male and female endurance athletes, placed
alternately on a high fat diet and then a low fat diet. The results
showed that the athletes on the low fat diet experienced a measurable
decline in athletic performance. Most interesting, however, was the fact
that the subjects on the low fat diet actually suffered a
significant drop in HDL cholesterol, along with higher triglycerides
(both of which are significant cardiovascular disease risk factors.)

Corn
oil, soy oil, safflower oil, canola oil, peanut oil, or any of the rest
of the vegetable oils (except olive, coconut oil, or palm oil) will
accelerate the aging process in general, create catabolic damage
throughout the body, and will specifically cause the oxidative damage in
the blood vessel walls and in the heart that precipitates a
cardiovascular crisis.


Myth #4: Statins Are Safe

The first real danger from statins is liver damage. Statin drugs
work by blocking the enzyme HMG CoA reductase so that the liver can no
longer synthesize its own cholesterol. They interfere with normal liver
metabolism, inhibit the liver’s production of many substances essential
for health, and damage the liver in the process.

That is why it is generally recommended that once beginning statin
drugs, the patient should have his liver enzymes checked every six
months.

Our liver produces 2000 milligrams of cholesterol every day. You think
it’s trying to destroy us with cardiovascular disease? No. Cholesterol
is an absolutely essential substance, with many critical functions in
the body. We couldn’t survive without it.

The second danger from taking Statin drugs is musculoskeletal pain
that can be severe, and is very frequently misdiagnosed. Since most
doctors are not aware that this is a common side effect of the statins,
people that suffer this side effect are often given diagnoses of
tendinitis, tendinosis, tenosynovitis, tendinopothy, bursitis, rotator
cuff syndrome, and so forth.

There are many cases reported in the literature of patients undergoing
surgery for musculoskeletal pathologies that did not really exist. A
number of statin patients have experienced kidney failure and even
death; others have had such severe muscular pain and weakness that they
are eventually unable to stand or breath on their own.

Statins deplete Co-Q10 levels in the body. Without Co-Q10, the
cell’s mitochondria are inhibited from producing energy, leading to
muscle pain and weakness. The heart is especially susceptible because it
uses so much energy.

Manufacturers of statin drugs have recognized the fact that statins depress the immune system,
an effect that can lead to cancer and infectious disease, recommending
statin use for inflammatory arthritis and as an immune suppressor for
transplant patients.




Importance Of Cholesterol: A Summary

As perfectly summarized by Guy Schenker and Ronald Grisanti, it is
ridiculously wrong to believe that cholesterol is a harmful substance
which needs to be “destroyed”, if you think about the many vital,
physiological functions it plays in the body:

• ™Your brain is made of cholesterol
  
• ™Your nerves are made of cholesterol
  
• ™Your body uses cholesterol to make all your important sex hormones and adrenal hormones
  
• Mother’s milk provides over 50% of its calories as fat, most of it
  saturated and provides the highest level of cholesterol than any other
  food!
  
• Without cholesterol to help your digestion, you couldn’t absorb any of your fat soluble vitamins like vitamin A and vitamin E
  
• ™Every single cell in your body is surrounded by a membrane
  containing cholesterol, and without that cholesterol membrane, no cell
  in your body could function
  
• Cholesterol is so important that your liver produces 2000 milligrams of cholesterol every day
  
• ™When following a low cholesterol diet, your liver makes up the
  difference by producing more cholesterol just to be sure you have
  enough. (Then, statins, of course “lower it”…and pour more gasoline on
  the burning fire!)
  
• ™High cholesterol in the blood doesn’t come from eating foods high
  in cholesterol; it comes from a metabolism that is not efficient at
  handling the cholesterol you need.
  

Source:-
http://www.naturalblaze.com/2013/05/debunking-cholesterol-myths.html