***Cholesterol Myths - 2

For generations we have been told that cholesterol was bad for us. This concept is based on a theory that came into being in the 1850’s when a researcher called Rudolph Virchow formulated a theory connecting cholesterol to atherosclerosis. From there is has gone from strength to strength, based on a blind acceptance of the fact that cholesterol is bad for us. Most research on the subject is based on the assumption of cholesterol being life threatening; the correctness of the “fact” is rarely questioned. And if the questioning is done, the results are hushed up and buried.

Modern research is showing that cholesterol as contained in saturated fats is not bad for the body. In fact it is good for the body and breaking cholesterol up into LDL and HDL cholesterol – the so called “good” and ‘bad” cholesterol – is nothing more that medical jugglery designed to cause confusion and hide the truth that cholesterol does not present any danger to health or life. Modern studies reveal that it is trans fatty acids and the shortage of polyunsaturated omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids that are the major cause of all the health problems wrongly attributed to cholesterol.

The facts about cholesterol have been documented in “The Oiling of America” by Enig and Fallon, “The Soft science of Dietary Fats by Gary Taubes (March 2001 edition of Science) and “The Cholesterol Myths” by Dr. Uffe Ravnskov. These an other research demonstrates conclusively that cholesterol is not the demon it is made out to be. In fact, the body needs cholesterol. Cholesterol is a naturally occurring substance in the body which is required to repair and protect the metabolism. When lifestyle or other conditions require the body to need more repair and protection, cholesterol levels increase. They drop once the need for repair and protection is reduced.

If this is the case, and it is backed by scientific evidence, why is the cholesterol myth still so prevalent? The simple answer is that it is a very profitable myth for many people. The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) decided, in the mid 1980s, that the cholesterol levels we had lived with for hundreds, if not thousands, of year were too high. Suddenly what was normal became unhealthy. And hundreds of thousands (and today millions) of people had to start taking medicines to control their cholesterol. And this was not a one shot medication. The medicines were things that had to be taken for years, and usually for the rest of people’s lives. Just think of the amounts of money that involved then and what it is today. The pharmaceutical companies and the medical profession has worked together to perpetuate this myth – they both have vested interests in its continued growth.

Tricking people into taking medicines they do not need is a serious matter. But it’s worse than that. The medicines that are being prescribed for controlling cholesterol cause both physical and psychological harm to those who take them. The physical danger lies in the fact that these medications have life threatening side effects like causing liver cancer. And the psychological effects are equally serious – buy tricking people into thinking they have a medical condition their lifestyle and the way they live their lives is altered, usually for the worse.

The reliable research that has emerged to counter the cholesterol myth has been buried to protect the profits of all those involved. A month after Taubes’ article appeared in Science, the NHLBI came out with even lower “acceptable” cholesterol levels, thereby bringing even more people into the needless medication regime.

The danger to health is not from cholesterol, it is from all the myths about its dangers that are being circulated to protect the income of those involved in the business.