The Cholesterol Myth

For the past 70 some odd years, the health and medical professionals have been proselytizing the idea that saturated fats clog our arteries and cause cardiovascular heart disease. There’s a lot of pseudo-science and dogma that upholds this mistaken beLief.  So, let’s get the skinny on the real science behind fat.

The science used to ostensibly prove this so called “Lipid hypothesis” is extremely problematic.  They often would just cherry pick countries of study that suited their hypothesis.  Other questionable techniques they used to reverse engineer their hypothesis include feeding rabbits saturated fats.  The poor bunnies did drop dead, but the flaw here is that rabbits are herbivores, and therefore are not designed to eat fat. Of course they are going to get sick and die!

Data from: Hoenselaar R. Further response from Hoenselaar. British Journal of Nutrition, 2012.

6 Graphs That Show Why The “War” on Fat Was a Huge Mistake

Keep in mind that, CHD is coronary heart disease, and CVD is cardiovascular disease, which are basically the same thing, heart disease.  Doctors always have to complicate things. They use sophisticated terminology so only they understand your body, not you.  That’s none of your business [insert sarcasm].

 Conclusions: A meta-analysis of prospective epidemiologic studies showed that there is no significant evidence for concluding that dietary saturated fat is associated with an increased risk of CHD or CVD.   – US National Library of Medicine  National Institutes of Health

“There’s no connection whatsoever between cholesterol in food and cholesterol in 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.” Ancel Keys, Ph.D., professor emeritus at the University of Minnesota, EATING WELL, March/April 1997.

Serum cholesterol is not a strong risk factor for CHD, in the sense that blood pressure is a strong risk factor for stroke or cigarette smoking is a risk factor for lung cancer.
-William Castelli, the director of the famed Framingham Heart

The cholesterol factor is of minor importance as a risk factor in CVD. Of far more importance are smoking, hypertension, obesity, diabetes, insufficient physical activity, and stress.   -Frederick Stare, a long-time American Heart Association member and (former) proponent of the lipid hypothesis. 

Dr. William Castelli, a former director of the Framingham Heart study, said:

“In Framingham, Mass., the more saturated fat one ate, the more cholesterol one ate, the more calories one ate, the lower the person’s serum cholesterol. The opposite of what Ancel Keys et al would predict. We found that the people who ate the most cholesterol, ate the most saturated fat, ate the most calories, weighed the least and were the most physically active.”

 

The Obesity Epidemic

“One special advantage of the skeptical attitude of mind is that a man is never vexed to find that after all he has been in the wrong.”

― William Osler

Your doctor may recommend a statin (cholesterol lowering) drug. Not only is this a stupid idea in the first place, the side effects of these statins are incredibly deleterious to our health. Don’t do it!

“The philosophies of one age have become the absurdities of the next, and the foolishness of yesterday has become the wisdom of tomorrow.”  ― William Osler

We have been told to replace healthy saturated fats with man-made toxic trans fats.

“Quit worrying about your health. It’ll go away.”  ― William Osler

“Heart Healthy” Cholesterol free Mazola™ corn oil has probably claimed hundreds of thousands of lives.  Most people are still listening to the same outlets that told them this stuff was healthy.

 

The ugly truth about vegetable oils (and why they should be avoided

“At your next dinner party, try playing the following game. Challenge everyone around the table to produce a single drug that can cure people of an illness, other then antibiotics. If you come up with anything, stop whatever you are doing and call me.”-Lynne McTaggart

The scientific and medical community is not always right, in fact often they’re dead wrong.  It takes a while before these so called experts can admit their mistakes and move on in the right direction.  Their egos gets in the way.  Like Max Planck once put it, “A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it. Science advances one funeral at a time.”  

I wonder how many people have died listening to the experts, and how many families were destroyed by following mainstream health advice.  It’s important to make up your own mind on these health matters.  It’s your body, not the doctor’s.

So next time a white coat insists that this or that is settled science, let them know that science is constantly evolving.  When new evidence presents itself we have to remain open and actually look at it, instead of parroting the mantra of these ‘experts’, and calling anyone who disagrees with you ‘anti-science’.

“Saturated fat and cholesterol in the diet are not the cause of coronary heart disease. That myth is the greatest ‘scientific’ deception of the century, and perhaps any century.”  – George V. Mann, M.D. Professor of Biochemistry and Medicine

 

The Cholesterol Myth 

Are Fats Bad For You?

Cholesterol Myths You Need to Stop Believing

Big Fat Lies – video

Statin Nation video

The Cholesterol Myth

Debunking Cholesterol Myths -Wake Up World

 

Joe Dubs

I write about philosophy, geometry, health, politics and other stuff that interests me.

What do you think?