As explained by Dr. Campbell-McBride in “Put your Heart in your Mouth”
The most comprehensive and professional review of all available science on this subject has been conducted by Dr. Uffe Ravnskov, MD, PhD. He published the book “Cholesterol Myths” in 2000. His conclusion was the following:
“Masses of valid scientific evidence should have destroyed the diet-heart idea (Ancel Keys hypotheses – see separate blog) by now. Yet, like the ancient Greek Hydra, a mythological monster that grew new heads whenever its old ones were chopped off, the cholesterol Hydra continues its life as if nothing had happened…. Scientists, who support the diet-heart idea and who are honest must be ignorant, either because they have failed to understand what they have read or else, by blindly following the authorities. They have failed to check the accuracy of the studies written by those authorities. Some scientists must surely have realized that the diet-heart idea is impossible and yet, for various reasons, have chosen to keep the idea alive”
You would be forgiven to ask this perfectly logical question: ‘Why don’t doctors know better? Why do they keep telling us to avoid fats and are putting us on cholesterol lowering drugs such as statins?”
The answer to those questions is also perfectly logical to most critical thinkers: “An ordinary practicing physician gets most of their information from the drug companies. Compared to their peers half a century ago. Most doctors don’t have the time or the skills to critically evaluate reports. Very few know anything about research, nor did the generation that taught them. And of course there is the fact that big pharma supports the hallow halls of universities – so of course the universities will favor the big pharma solutions – end of story.
Thanks to our diet-heart proponents, everybody knows that cholesterol is evil. You are likely to have a blood test and if your cholesterol is higher than 7-8mmol/l (270mg/100ml) you will be most likely prescribed a statin drug.
However this avenue of treatment will not be beneficial to your overall health in the long run. Our bodies are made up of trillions of cells. Almost every cell produces cholesterol all the time, simply because cholesterol is an integral and very important part of our cell membranes. These membranes make the cell walls of all organelles inside the cell. Let’s address as to exactly what the cholesterol does:
Saturated fats and cholesterol make the walls of the cells firm – without them, they become flabby and fluid. The funny thing is that if we did not have cholesterol and saturated fats in the walls of our cells, we would all look like giant worms or slugs!!!
Different kinds of cells need different amounts of cholesterol, depending on their function and purpose. If the cells are in a protective barrier, it will have a lot of cholesterol in it to make it strong, sturdy and resistant to any invasion. If the cell or an organelle inside the cell needs to be soft and fluid, it will have less cholesterol in its walls.
The Cholesterol and saturated fats firm up and reinforce our tissues in the body used by our blood vessels, especially the ones that have to withstand high pressure. These are usually the large and medium arteries. The large flow of blood pounding through them forces them to incorporate a layer of cholesterol and saturated fats in the wall, which makes them stronger and more rigid. These layers of cholesterol and fat are called fatty streaks. They are completely normal. Many indigenous populations around the world, who do not suffer from heart disease, have been found to have plenty of these fatty streaks in their blood vessels regardless of their age or gender.
The cells in our bodies have to communicate with each other. They use proteins embedded into the wall of the cell. These proteins are fixed to the wall with the help of cholesterol and saturated fats.
To cut a long story short, without cholesterol and saturated fats our cells would not be able to communicate with each other or transport various molecules into and out of our cells. Our bodies cannot function well without this perfectly composed dance between the cholesterol/saturated fats and the cells.
Our human brain is particularly rich in cholesterol. Around 25% of all the bodys’ cholesterol is taken up by the brain. Every cell and the rest of our nervous system needs cholesterol, not only to build itself but also to accomplish its many function.
One of the most wonderful things we human beings are blessed with is the ability to remember things. How do these memories form? Our brain cells establish connections with each other, which is called synapses. Scientists have discovered that synapse formation is almost entirely dependent on cholesterol, which is produced by the brain cells in a form of “apoliproprotein E”. Without this production of cells we would not be able to learn or remember anything.
One of the main side effects of the cholesterol lowering statins is memory loss – how surprising!!!
Dr. Duane Graveline, MD and former NASA scientist had been prescribed statins and subsequently wrote a book, describing his experience in “Lipitor – Thief of Memory, Statin Drugs and Misguided War on Cholesterol”
What a lot of people don’t realize is that cholesterol does not come from our food. The body produces cholesterol as and when it is needed. Scientific studies have conclusively demonstrated that cholesterol from food has no effect whatsoever on the level of our blood cholesterol. The reason being, cholesterol is such an essential part of our human physiology that the body has a very efficient mechanism to keep blood cholesterol at a certain level. When we eat foods with lots of cholesterol, the body produces less and vice versa, less cholesterol the body produces more – like magic really.
The raw material for the body to produce cholesterol can be carbohydrates, proteins, fats. This means that your pasta and bread can also be used for making cholesterol in your body. It has been estimated that in an average person about 85% of blood cholesterol is produced by the body, while only 15% comes from the food!
So a cholesterol-free diet does absolutely nothing. However, cholesterol lowering drugs are completely different. They interfere with the body’s ability to produce cholesterol and hence they reduce the amount of cholesterol available for the body to use.
If we don’t take these drugs and follow a holistic living plan, then we don’t have to worry about the level of cholesterol. However, there are people whose bodies are unable to produce the required amount of cholesterol.
These people are prone to emotional instability and behavioral problems. Low blood cholesterol has been routinely recorded in criminals, who have committed murder and other violent crimes, people with aggressive and violent personalities. Also people prone to suicide and people with aggressive social behavior and low self-control. Oxford Professor, Dr. Davin Horrobin stated: “reducing cholesterol in the population on a large scale could lead to a general shift to more violent patterns of behavior. Most of this increased violence would not result in death, but in more aggression at work and within the family such as child abuse, wife beating and generally more unhappiness.”
Dr Campbell-McBride also states that without cholesterol, we would not be able to have children, because every sex hormone in our bodies is made from cholesterol. A fair percentage of our infertility epidemic can be laid at the doorstep of the ‘diet-heart hypothesis’ i.e. low fat/no fat diets.
Recent research (J. Chavarro 2007) has found that women who drink whole milk and eat high fat dairy products are more fertile than the ones who consume low fat dairy products.
Could this erroneous diet-heart hypothesis be responsible for the huge increase of infertility that we are now seeing in the western world?
Cholesterol is essential for our immune system to function properly. Studies have demonstrated that immune cells rely on cholesterol in fighting infections and repairing themselves after the fight. On top of that, LDL (low density lipoprotein) cholesterol, or so- preventing them from doing any damage to the body. For example, MRSA, a common hospital infection can literally dissolve red blood cells. However, it does not work in the presence of LDL cholesterol. People who contract this disease are low on LDL cholesterol.
Any person suffering from an acute or chronic infection needs to eat high cholesterol foods to recover. Cod Liver Oil, the richest source of cholesterol after caviar, should be given to the patient.
Our stress hormones are made out of cholesterol in the body. Stressful situations increase our blood cholesterol levels, because cholesterol is being sent to the adrenal glands for stress hormone production. For example when we are under stress, there is a storm of free radicals and other damaging biochemistry in the blood. The liver therefore works twice as hard to send out as much cholesterol as possible to deal with the free radical attack. Again your blood cholesterol will test high if you are under stress.
In short, if we have a high blood cholesterol level it probably indicates that the body is dealing with some damage and is trying to heal itself.
The following questions are interesting:-
. Why do some people have more cholesterol in their blood than others?
. Why can the same person have different levels of cholesterol at different times of the
day
. Why is our level of cholesterol different in different seasons of the year, for example in
the winter it goes up and in the summer it goes down?
. Why is it that blood cholesterol goes through the roof after dental surgery?
. Why does blood cholesterol go up if you have an infection?
. Why does it regulate itself to normal levels when you are relaxed and feel well?
The answer to all these questions is that cholesterol is a healing agent for the body. When the body experiences a healing crises, it produces cholesterol and sends it to the place where the problem occurred in the first place. Depending on the time of day, the weather, the season and our exposure to various environmental agents, the damage to various tissues in the body varies. Therefore also the production of cholesterol within our body varies.
As we are discussing heart disease and atherosclerosis (built of plaque in the arteries) let us look at the blood vessels. Their inside walls are covered by a layer of thin cells called the endothelium. Any damaging agent we are exposed to will finish up in our bloodstream. Whether it is a toxic chemical, an infectious organism, a free radical or anything else, once it is in the blood stream what is it going to attack first? The endothelium, which immediately sends a message to the liver. Whenever the liver receives a signal that a wound has been inflicted upon the endothelium somewhere in our vascular system, it gets into gear and sends cholesterol to the site of the damage in a shuttle called LDL (low-density lipoprotein). This cholesterol travels from the liver to the wound in the form of LDL. Our ‘science’ in its infinite wisdom, called LDL a “bad” cholesterol. When the wound heals and the cholesterol is removed, it travels back to the liver in the form of HDL (high-density lipoprotein), where our misguided ‘science’ calls it ‘good cholesterol’.
Because this cholesterol travels away from the artery, where it has successfully dealt with the problem, back to the liver, ‘science’ calls it ‘good cholesterol!!!
This is really akin to calling an ambulance, travelling from the hospital to the patient a ‘bad ambulance’ and the one travelling from the patient back to the hospital a ‘good ambulance’!
The latest science data has now ‘discovered’ that not all LDL cholesterol is so bad – most of it is actually good. Inferring that the LDL is the ‘good bad cholesterol” and the HDL is the “bad bad cholesterol”.
We truly believe that you cant really rely on ‘establishments’ science’ any longer and need to just inform yourself by reading true information about this situation, as you are currently doing and then make up your own mind.
So if your doctor finds that you have high blood cholesterol, he should ask himself what is causing this, not attacking the symptom and entirely failing to find the cause.
Many natural herbs, antioxidants and vitamins have an ability to reduce our blood cholesterol by helping the body to reduce the free radicals, bacteria, viruses and toxins. This would then send a signal to the liver that all is well and there is no need to produce excess cholesterol to deal with the above issues – quite simple really.
For example when the issue has been dealt with, there is no need for the presence of cholesterol any more, so the body removes it in the form of HDL cholesterol or so called ‘good’ cholesterol. That is why herbs, vitamins, antioxidants and other natural remedies increase the level of HDL in the blood.
There is so much more excellent information about worldwide statistics in this book “Put Your Heart in Your Mouth” – so we highly recommend you read it
A short list of foods which are high in cholesterol are
Caviar provides 588mg per 100g, followed closely by Cod liver oil 570mg per 100g
Then third place is fresh egg yolk with 424mg per 100g (organic free range, not chemically mutilated eggs) Butter is 218mg per 100g followed by cold water fish such as salmon, mackerel, shrimps and sardines. Lard provides 94mg per 100g.