Cholesterol — Your Life Depends on It!
“Eating foods that contain any cholesterol above 0 mg is unhealthy.”
— T. Colin Campbell, PhD, author of The China Study.
Many in the medical establishment say they are waging a war against cholesterol.
Yet cholesterol is a health-promoting nutrient that just could save your life! Think this is an exaggeration? Consider the following.
The War on Cholesterol
According to Michael Brown and Joseph Goldstein, winners of the Nobel Prize in 1985 for their discovery of the receptor that brings cholesterol into cells, the debate about the role of cholesterol in health and disease is a war.
They wrote the foreword to a recent book by Daniel Steinberg, MD, PhD, called The Cholesterol Wars.
In it, they call themselves and others "who condemn cholesterol as the culprit" the "anti-cholesterol forces." They liken scientific advances in our understanding of this vital nutrient to "powerful new weapons" that have aided the "anti-cholesterol forces" just "like modern armies."
The War on Good Food
According to Brown and Goldstein, the next "battle" of the "Cholesterol Wars" will be fought over what age someone should be before they start cholesterol-lowering therapy. The ideal therapy, they say, is a low-fat, low-cholesterol diet rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids.
That means the following: no butter, no eggs, no liver or other organ meats. A diet of dry plant foods, with small amounts of corn oil, soybean oil, and perhaps a few capsules of fish oil.
As you will learn on this site, this diet is not only bland and boring, but it is missing the most nutritious and health-promoting foods the earth has to offer! Not only that, but it may just be polyunsaturated fats, rather than saturated fats or cholesterol, that contribute to heart disease, cancer, liver damage, and aging.
I personally hurt my health following a diet of plant foods alone, and recovered after learning the value of nutrient-dense animal foods. You can learn more about me and my storyhere.
The War on Your Brain
Short of dramatic changes in diet, these anti-cholesterol warriors recommend starting cholesterol-lowering statin drugs between the ages of 20 and 40 — although other experts are now recommending these drugs be given to children as young as eight years old.
As you will learn on this site, one of cholesterol's most important functions is to support learning and memory — that is why the brain is so rich in cholesterol, and that is probably why statin drugs lower cognitive function and seem to occasionally cause a disorder known as transient global amnesia.
In low-risk populations, over 600 people need to take a statin to save one from a heart attack. In high-risk populations, over 60 people need to take one. Yet the rate of side effects like muscle pain is much higher, and the worst side effects — failing memory, depression, irritability — are chalked up to personality or age and never recorded.
The War on Your Wallet
These drugs cost a lot of money. Who is going to pay for it? Either you, your insurance company, or the government. Whichever way, your wallet gets hurt.
If health insurance companies start paying for everyone to go on statins in their teenage years, the cost of health care will go up.
If the federal prescription drug plan pays for it, tens of billions of dollars per year will be added to the national debt, which is already spiraling out of control. The government will borrow this money from lenders, and at least a portion will be created by the Federal Reserve. As that extra money leaks into the economy, the purchasing power of your dollar will steadily disappear — something that has already been happening for decades.
Science is a Search for Truth, Not a War
Those who wage "war" on cholesterol may have impeccable scientific credentials but the war they are waging is not the path of science. Science is not a war against molecules. It is a search for truth.
On this site, I look for the truth about cholesterol, and I publish what I find. I also cover many related topics on the blog. I hope you find this search for truth as fascinating as I do, and I hope you enjoy the site!
Wishing you the best of health,
Chris Masterjohn
Read more about the author, Chris Masterjohn, PhD, here.