My learning from a video-clipping “Saturated Fat and Cholesterol Lies” by Jimmy Langkop from the movie “Fat Head” by Tom Naughton.
Fat Head website: http://www.fathead-movie.com/
The Lipid Hypothesis states that –
- Eating saturated fat raises the cholesterol in your blood.
- High cholesterol in your blood clogs your arteries and causes heart disease.
Debunking the 1st point – Eating saturated fat raises the cholesterol in your blood.
Everyone believed in this hypothesis and acted on it. But it is only a myth. When one looks into the medical literature, it’s clear that this hypothesis is bogus. Three authors who looked through the medical literature are science writer Gary Taubes, Swedish doctor Uffe Ravnskov and British doctor Malcolm Kendrick. When they examined the data from all the big studies on heart disease they discovered that none of the studies actually prove that a high fat diet causes heart disease. One of the researchers involved in the Framingham study called the lipid hypothesis ‘the greatest scientific scam of this century’. And after more than 40 years, even the director of the study said that the more saturated fat one ate, the more cholesterol one ate, the lower the person’s serum cholesterol.
In other words,
a high fat diet does not automatically raise your cholesterol.
Debunking the 2nd point – Cholesterol in the blood causes heart disease.
Lots of people have had bad heart attacks but low cholesterol levels. And then there are people who have had heart attacks, and develop plaque, but have high or low cholesterol – there is really not any correlation. Michael Debakey, a famous heart surgeon compared the medical records of more than 1700 of his own patients. He found no relationship between cholesterol levels and heart disease. When Dwight Einsenhower had his first heart attack, his cholesterol was only about 165. Even though it was a supposedly ’safe’ level, he had a heart attack.
If high cholesterol doesn’t actually cause heart disease, then what does?
Cholesterol does not cause heart disease. Inflammation and oxidation causes heart disease.
Cholesterol merely acts upon the heart disease. Even people with low cholesterol levels have heart disease. When you check carefully, you can see that they have signs of inflammation.
The lies:
If you have too much LDL or bad cholesterol it builds up in your arteries and makes them narrow. But if you are lucky, HDL or good cholesterol clears it away. It’s a nice simple story. But it’s nonsense.
The truth:
– First of all, LDL and HDL are not cholesterol. They are proteins that carry cholesterol through the blood. LDL carries cholesterol from the liver to tissues. HDL carries old cholesterol back to the liver where it’s recycled.
– Everyone know that HDL is the ‘good cholesterol’. What makes HDL increase in number? Fat in the food. If you want high HDL, a low-fat diet will not help you achieve it.
– Not all LDL is bad. LDL number does not matter. It’s the LDL particle size that matters. Small, dense LDL is bad for health; large, fluffy LDL don’t do any damage.
– Heart disease is not caused by high cholesterol. It is caused when arteries become inflamed or damaged. When arteries become damaged, LDL comes and does its duty – it repairs the damage. When the LDL particle is small and dense, instead of large and fluffy, it causes plaque.
– Small, dense LDL is caused by eating carbohydrates.
Blaming the police for crimes
By blaming cholesterol for causing heart disease, the experts use the following logic:
- In high crime areas there are more calls to the police.
- Therefore, we can assume that calling the police produces an increase in crime.
- To get rid of crime, the answer is simple. Stop calling the police.
Politics, business and corruption played a bigger role than science in the Lipid Hypothesis. Though several studies and reports proved that fat in the diet had nothing to do with heart disease, the officials release dietary guidelines to the contrary suggesting a low-fat diet to the public. Most of the scientists who wrote the cholesterol guidelines that everyone’s cholesterol should be below 200 have a financial relationship with the companies that make cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins.
What is the role of cholesterol in the body?
Cholesterol is an important and essential substance in the body. Without it, we would be dead. The brain and nervous system are full of cholesterol. The walls of cells depend on cholesterol. Nearly all hormones are made from cholesterol. Our immune system, sex hormones, skin, hair and nails – are all cholesterol dependent. Cholesterol is so important that almost every cell in the body can make its own cholesterol, if necessary.
If you are a woman of any age, or a man above 60, so-called cholesterol problems are a non-issue. In fact, the higher your cholesterol, the longer you’ll live. Cholesterol lowering drugs called ‘statins’ have side effects like memory loss, muscle problems and osteoporosis in women. (Watch this video: Statins are poison – https://youtu.be/TZomZEPBdbM). Low cholesterol is known to be a probable cause for depression, suicide, violent behaviour, strokes and cancer.
It is better to have high cholesterol than low cholesterol.
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To know which fats are good to eat, go to Beginner’s guide to LCHF foods.
To know how to decipher your cholesterol tests (lipid panel), read: Your cholesterol test result: what does it really mean?
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Further viewing:
How you got fat – https://youtu.be/mNYlIcXynwE
The manipulation of statin statistics (watch for 4 minutes till 43:10) – https://youtu.be/yX1vBA9bLNk?t=39m30s
Watch the entire video, if you want to know more.
The Cholesterol Conundrum and Root Cause Solution – https://youtu.be/fuj6nxCDBZ0
Separating fat from fiction – https://youtu.be/uCRginYo4rk
Further reading:
Books:
The Great Cholesterol Myth (Free online book) – Uffe Ravnskov
The Big Fat Surprise – Nina Teicholz
The Great Cholesterol Con – Malcolm Kendrick
Articles:
$29 Billion Reasons to Lie About Cholesterol – http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/02/01/29-billion-reasons-to-lie-about-cholesterol.aspx
Cholesterol myths – http://www.ravnskov.nu/cholesterol/
Cholesterol myths free online book – http://www.ravnskov.nu/cm/
Lowering cholesterol increases death – https://drmalcolmkendrick.org/2016/04/13/greater-cholesterol-lowering-increases-the-risk-of-death/
Lowering cholesterol has no effect on heart disease – https://drmalcolmkendrick.org/2016/04/10/lowering-cholesterol-has-no-effect-on-heart-disease/