Cholesterol Doesn't Do What You Think It Does

Elevations in total cholesterol don't have a proven and defined correlation with heart disease risk, let alone cardiac event. The stories behind why anyone came to believe such a connection existed are complicated. Many an author have gone to task to explain how the errant belief ever came into being, how pharmaceutical companies vending cholesterol drugs were loathe to let the public become educated on the topic, and how dogma around this subject pervaded medical school training. I'm not interested in covering all of that today. It's been done to death.

Instead, in short summary I want to create clarity for the layperson, with nothing that is contended in biology, biochemistry, or medical science:

1.) cholesterol is a necessary ingredient for every cell in the human body
​2.) your intestines, liver, and adrenal glands are responsible (not the consumption of cholesterol) for how much cholesterol is in your blood
3.) total cholesterol is meaningless without looking at the subsets of particle sizes
4.) cholesterol particles and especially triglycerides fluctuate quite a bit within a single day

There is no one in all of medicine or science who disagrees about these things These aren't debated. Rather, people forget these four facts, and then end up at disparate conclusions.

Keep these four things in mind. And, as you do, you'll notice that just suppressing cholesterol in the body can be quite counterproductive. When you study all of the hormones which are synthesized from cholesterol, you get really worried about your cholesterol getting TOO LOW, not too high. 

While you are active or losing weight, you'll have INCREASES in triglycerides from time to time. That's your body breaking down stored fat.

And frankly, just the notion that dietary fat or cholesterol is gumming up the arteries was a non-starter from the get-go. Take butter, lard, coconut oil, or heavy whipping cream, with their incredibly high cholesterol and saturated fat content and apply them to your hands. See how high the friction on your hands is now. Your hands can barely move against one another, right? Now take syrup or honey and apply to hands. Now your hands glide smoothly without any friction whatsoever, right?

Yeah. You get the idea. It's definitely the dietary cholesterol and saturated fats which were causing damage. And the acceleration in heart disease prevalence definitely has nothing to do with those "heart-healthy" carbohydrates. Right? *wink wink*