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Cholesterol Myths Update - the constant skeptic Gets Healthier

First off, check out this excellent series of articles on cholesterol by one of the world’s foremost researchers on the subject: Uffe Ravnskov, MD, PhD.

The doctor writes about the cholesterol myth. There’s so much to learn about this subject, you owe it to yourself to read up: http://www.ravnskov.nu/myth1.htm

All that can be said for sure about cholesterol is that if you exercise, your body increases production of the ‘good’ cholesterol or HDL, and decreases the ‘bad’ cholesterol, or LDL.

It is strange to note that in some study groups, those with the largest amounts of the ‘good’ cholesterol ended up either having an equal number of heart attacks, or more heart attacks than the groups who had a greater amount of the so-called bad cholesterol.

If that isn’t bad enough, a lot of studies are now saying that trans-fats and chemical additives in foods are a lot worse for you than cholesterol or natural fatty acids. check out this article on how trans-fats are far worse than butter or beef or bacon or natural oils. It supports New York City’s attempts to ban trans fats from the city.

Trust me, take my advice and stay away from Mcdonalds, or any of that sort, if you can, eat a lot of vegetables, beans, and natural or ‘organic’ foods. And please eat some meat every once in a while, every vegetarian I know is chronically ill for some reason or other, which usually stems from their lack of meat intake.

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11th June 2006

Cholesterol Myths exposed? Or wackos?

Uffe Ravnskov’s The Cholesterol Myths - Exposing the Fallacy that Saturated Fat and Cholesterol Cause Heart Disease (2000) is the bible of cholesterol contrarianism. (Henceforth, the author will be referred to as UR.) These contrarians call themselves skeptics but their goal is not to examine all the evidence and think critically about it in the large context of our medical knowledge. Their goal is to cherry pick data to support their contention that low cholesterol is bad for you and high cholesterol is positively good for you. A diet high in saturated fats is never unhealthy, in their opinion. Not everything they say is false. Much of it is true. But everything they say is taken out of context to support their contention.

Joel M. Kauffman, a cholesterol contrarian, exemplifies the claims and methods of these folks. He wrote in Skeptic [vol. 12, no. 2]: “Cholesterol is highly protective against cancer, infection and atherosclerosis” and “high TC [total cholesterol] and LDL levels are beneficial at all ages.” These are extraordinary claims and could be deadly, if taken seriously. It is hoped that no reader of Skeptic will throw away his or her cholesterol-lowering medications after reading these claims. Kauffman’s source for this claim is a paper by UR: “High Cholesterol May Protect Against Infections and Atherosclerosis.” Kaufmann changes UR’s “may protect” to “are beneficial” and adds “cancer” for good measure. This kind of looseness with the facts is something to look for when reading the cholesterol contrarian literature.

This is the first installment of a “review” of UR’s book. I use scare quotes because I do not plan to point out the good and the bad in the book. I plan to focus only on the bad. Part 1 of this review will cover the foreword, the introduction, and chapter one. But first let me assert that I agree with the contrarians that there is not a strong body of peer-reviewed published research that shows that a person who eats a low-fat diet is guaranteed to have low cholesterol which will prevent that person from getting atherosclerosis which in turn will prevent that person from getting a heart attack. Nor is there strong evidence that a person who eats a high-fat diet is guaranteed to have high cholesterol and get atherosclerosis and die of a heart attack as a result.

all of this taken from The Skeptic’s Dictionary:
http://www.skepdic.com

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