Does Cholesterol Cause Heart Disease?
We all know a family member or friend who has been the victim of cardiovascular disease. In the United States alone, over 65 million people are affected every year.
The impact of cardiovascular disease is paramount:
Close to 1 million Americans have a heart attack each year.
1 of 3 deaths that occur in the U.S. is caused by cardiovascular disease.
In the U.S., one person dies every 39 seconds of cardiovascular disease.
1 in 3 Americans have metabolic syndrome; a cluster of major cardiovascular risk factors related to overweight/obesity and insulin resistance.
The total cost of cardiovascular disease in 2008 was estimated at a staggering $300 billion.
Is it safe to say dietary cholesterol is the culprit?
We are told fatty foods like meat, eggs and bacon raise our cholesterol levels.
This notion is so ingrained in our cultural psyche as gospel truth, it's practically considered taboo to challenge this idea.
You see, this idea is called the diet-heart hypothesis — or the lipid hypothesis — supports this idea. It states that the intake of cholesterol and saturated fat raises the cholesterol in our blood.
Unfortunately, most of the research for this hypothesis is based off studies conducted 40 to 50 years ago and has since been debunked.
However, through the corruption of big pharma and the mainstream media, the truth has never reached the public.
Cholesterol Explained
Most people don't realize that their liver actually produces the majority of cholesterol in their body.
From day to day, we have between 1,000 and 1,700 mg of cholesterol in our bodies.
The liver produces 75% and the other 25% comes from our diet.
In this fact lies the key to understanding cholesterol.
Our body naturally regulates the amount of cholesterol in our body.
When we ingest more cholesterol from food, the body makes less.
When cholesterol intake in the diet goes down, our body makes more.
Therefore, dietary cholesterol has very little to no effect on our blood cholesterol levels.
Avoiding cholesterol in your diet is actually more harmful to your health than helpful!
This explains a 2009 study that showed dietary cholesterol has very little impact on blood cholesterol levels in about 75% of the population. The other 25% were references to "hyper-responders."
Even among the hyper-responders in which both LDL "bad cholesterol" and HDL "good cholesterol" were increased, the ratio was unaffected and did not increase the risk of heart disease. [1]
Ancel Keys, who is considered the "father" of the cholesterol-heart disease hypothesis, had this to say in 1997:
"There's no connection whatsoever between the cholesterol in food and cholesterol in the blood. And we've known that all along. Cholesterol in the diet doesn't matter at all unless you happen to be a chicken or a rabbit."
(For a full explanation of the cholesterol myth, click http://www.cholesterol-and-health.com/Does-Cholesterol-Cause-Heart-Disease-Myth.html
Does Cholesterol Cause Heart Disease?
The prior information begs another question. Does cholesterol cause heart disease? Recent research would say no!
Most researchers now believe the primary cause of heart disease is inflammation and oxidative stress.
Studies comparing cholesterol levels in men and women illustrate a very large flaw in the lipid hypothesis. Women suffer 300% less heart disease than men, and yet have higher average cholesterol levels.
At the recent Conference on Low Blood Cholesterol, which reviewed 11 major studies including 125,000 women, it was determined that ...
"There was absolutely no relationship between total cholesterol levels and mortality from cardiovascular or any other causes."
Recently, researchers conducted over 40 trials to determine whether lowering cholesterol levels can prevent heart disease. In some trials, heart disease rates increased and in others, they decreased.
But when the results of all of the trials were pooled together, the results were surprising …
As it turns out, just as many people died in the treatment groups (who had their cholesterol levels lowered by drugs) as in the control groups (who had no treatment).
Australian Aboriginals have the highest rate of heart disease, and yet the lowest cholesterol levels.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Swiss have the highest average cholesterol levels and one of the lowest levels of heart disease.
Dr. Frederick Stare, a long-time American Heart Association member and (former) proponent of the lipid hypothesis, had this to say.
"The cholesterol factor is of minor importance as a risk factor in (cardiovascular disease). Of far more importance are smoking, hypertension, obesity, diabetes, insufficient physical activity and stress."
Dangers of Lowering Your Cholesterol
As I said earlier, it is actually extremely harmful to lower your cholesterol.
Most people don't realize cholesterol is an essential nutrient required in every single cell of the body to function properly.
Not only is cholesterol essential in every cell of your body, every steroid hormone is synthesized from cholesterol, including all of the sex and adrenal hormones.
In addition, cholesterol is essential to converting sunlight to Vitamin D. Without sufficient cholesterol levels, you wouldn't be able to generate the sufficient amounts of Vitamin D your body requires. And Vitamin D has many health benefits in the human body.
Therefore, we've figured out that not only does dietary cholesterol NOT affect blood cholesterol levels, but also total cholesterol levels in general do NOT cause heart disease. Science has shown that lowering cholesterol levels is actually more harmful than helpful.
Yet, doctors prescribe harmful medications called "statins," which are aimed at lowering cholesterol artificially to millions of Americans every year.
Statins Kill
Statin drugs work by inhibiting an enzyme in your liver needed to create cholesterol. By inhibiting this enzyme, statins do more than just block cholesterol.
Statins also deplete a precious enzyme called Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), which plays a vital role in heart health and muscle function. When CoQ10 is depleted, it causes a chain reaction of nasty events.
Muscle fibers start to break down overtime all throughout the body, including skeletal, smooth (organs), and cardiac (heart) muscles. This muscle failure leads to kidney and liver damage.
Statins have also been shown to cause or increase the risk of:
*Polyneuropathy (nerve damage that causes pain in the hands and feet and trouble walking)
*Dizziness
*Cognitive impairment, including memory loss
*Cancer
*Decreased function of the immune system
*Depression
*Liver disease
The worst part is that these harmful drugs create a false sense of security in patients.
While people are taking these extremely harmful pills for a debunked disease, they completely ignore the true causes of their health problems such as poor diet, lack of exercise and stress.
In fact, in a large clinical study done on the commercialized statin called Lipitor, it was shown to be ONLY 1% more effective at preventing heart attacks than a pill filled with simple sugar.
This may all come as a huge shocker to you. Of course, there are a million different health cases any individual can have, but as far as the general population goes, science has debunked the half-century-long cholesterol myth.
Written By
Brad Hoppmann
No comments:
Post a Comment