Cholesterol is NOT the primary risk for Coronary Heart Disease (CVD)
This is the hardest article I have ever written. Cholesterol is a subject that is very difficult, misunderstood by most, including most doctors and has many emotional ties for people.
We have been misinformed about cholesterol its use in our body and the risk factors associated with it. Below I’m going to take you from commonsense to science and as we look at where the cholesterol myth has come from, where cholesterol comes from, the functions of cholesterol within our bodies, the real culprits of Coronary Heart Disease (CVD), the solutions to having high cholesterol and limiting your risks of getting CVD.
Before we jump into all of this I just want to say that having abnormally high cholesterol levels is still not a good thing, but these emails will arm you with the right questions to ask your doctor and help you with some food and lifestyle choices that will improve matters.
I want to start with some simple common sense thinking by asking you a question;
• Would a substance that we have been consuming for millions of years with no problems suddenly start harming the whole population causing disease?
• Would a substance that our body makes 2000mg of per day regardless of what you eat be directly harmful to us?
I like statistics so I’m going to hit you with some…… Ready?
• ‘40% of all heart attacks are from people with Low cholesterol’ (lower than 200), (1)
• People with low serum cholesterol (less than 180), have 3X the incidence of strokes as the general population
• The more saturated fat you eat the less likely you are to suffer a stroke (2)
• Your risk of stroke decreased by 15% for every 3% increase in your saturated fat intake (2)
• Low fat diets have been found to negate the effects that exercise is supposed to produce (3)
• Athletic performance declines, HDL decreases (the good cholesterol), triglyceride levels increase. On low fat diets. All factors associated with CVD (3)
Cholesterol is one of the most important substances that you body produces. If either your body stopped producing it or the body’s ability to produce it was disrupted completely then you would suffer some serious health problems which would lead to your eventual death if not treated. This is demonstrated nicely by a genetic condition called Smith-Lemli-Opitz Syndrome (SLOS). People with this condition suffer the following;
• Spontaneous abortion of foetuses with SLOS or still birth
• Death from multi organ failure during the first few weeks of life
• Vomiting, feeding difficulties, constipation, toxic megacolon, electrolyte disturbances, failure to thrive and gastrointestinal problems.
• Congenital heart disease and congestive heart failure
• Visual loss due to cataracts, optic nerve abnormalities or other ophthalmologic problems
• Hearing loss
• Other causes of death include pneumonia, congenital heart defect, hepatic failure.
Survival from low cholesterol is unlikely if your plasma cholesterol level is lower than 20mg/dL. For more information on this go to http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/949125-overview
So, let’s look at what cholesterol does in the body and why it’s one of the most important substances that we make!
• Your nerves are made from cholesterol, in fact 5% of the dry weight of your brain is cholesterol

• Your body uses cholesterol to make your steroid based hormones, which are your sex and adrenal hormones – Testosterone, Oestrogen, Cortisol and Androgen etc

• Cholesterol is used in your bile which enables you to break down fat for energy and to release the vitamins A, D ,E and K the fat soluble vitamins. These are very important vitamins, but I’ll save them for another article

• Along with saturated fat, cholesterol is used to make the walls (membrane) of your cells. Without cholesterol this membrane would not function properly as it provides stiffness and stability

• Lipoproteins (protein cholesterol carriers), repair tissue damage such as the lining of the arterial
Wall

• Makes a substance call Ecseconoids, which are chemical communicators within the cell

• Precursor to Vitamin D needed for healthy bones, nervous system, growth, mineral metabolism, muscle tone, insulin production, reproduction and immune system function

• Acts as an antioxidant, protecting us from free radical damage and therefore heart disease and cancer, which is probably why its levels naturally increase with age

• Required for proper function of serotonin receptors in the brain. Serotonin is the feel good hormone. Lack of cholesterol is linked with aggression and violent behaviours as well as depression and suicide
From this list you can begin to see how important cholesterol is within your body and how it’s not an evil, malicious molecule sent to destroy the human race!
I think that now is a good time to point out that to perform all of these functions the body needs a lot of cholesterol, in fact it’s hard to eat this enough cholesterol to meet your daily needs, you would need to eat 6-8 egg yolks every day, so the liver produces the rest, which could be up to 5x the amount that you have naturally eaten (5).
I know what you may be thinking…. “Yes that’s great but we all know that there is ‘good’ and ‘bad’ cholesterol, it must be the good stuff that performs all of these tasks in the body leading to health”.
So you may think, tomorrow let’s look at cholesterol, the good and the bad!
Committed to your success
Keith Tucker
Are you looking for a nutritional solution to health issues such as excess weight, high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, IBS etc?
Then check out the Absolute Nutrition course

http://absolute-training.org/personal-nutrition/

1 – William Castelli, M.D., former director of the Framingham Heart Study
2 – Gilman, et all; December 24, 1997 Journal of the American Medical Association
3 – Leddy, et al and published in 1997 in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, Volume 29
4 – Udo Erasmus; Fats that Heal, Fats that Kill
5 – The great cholesterol con; Dr Malcolm Kendrick