It has been known for decades that saturated fats raises cholesterol and eventually causing heart disease.
Unfortunately, it seems that belief is history and we should embrace the new idea that is the real on that cholesterol is not the villain when it comes to health.
Here's a video presentation below by Jonny Bowden,PhD, co-author of The Great Cholesterol Myth along with his colleague Dr. Stephen Sinatra.
When I became overweight a few years ago, I was worried about my cholesterol level, but for some reasons, I didn't take the cholesterol test.
And, I'm glad I did because what I've learned from this presentation is the number or level of cholesterol does not matter. Although, there is a different test to determine the bad or good cholesterol level called particle test.
But, before that, I think it's a good idea to have a clear picture of what really is cholesterol? Is it bad? What is it for and what causes the increase of it in our body?
Quick Cholesterol Overview
In addition, I've also added another presentation right at the end of this article along with a summary of the entire talk that covers the various manipulations in the study to cover the truth.
That presentation by Sally Fallon Morell also reveals the true function of cholesterol and saturated fats. You'll be amazed if this is your first time hearing this information.
Jonny Bowden's Great Cholesterol Myth
Why it's important to know all these? Well, as you can see there were lots of cover-ups with regards to manipulation of the results and hiding the truth.
Now, if you're someone with high cholesterol and your doctor prescribed you with statins, would you take it if you know the negative outcomes in the future?
Think about it and let's face the fact that we've been bombarded with unhealthy that are labeled healthy, GMOs came water fluoridation, and eventually, medication thought to be helpful, yet hiding the dark results when taken.
Statin, although, there are no studies conducted, erectile dysfunction is one of the side effects along with muscle pains, memory loss, etc.
Statin Side Effects
- Fatigue and weakness
- Memory loss and reduced mental capacity
- Neuropathy and slowed reactions
- Muscle wasting leading to back pain and heart failure
- Intestinal disease and pancreatic problems
- Reduced libido and depression
- Accidents-related, suicide and cancer
- Heart failure rates have doubled since statins have come into use REF
- CoQ10 – Statins reduce the body's production of Coenzyme Q10 which is indespensable for normal function of muscles and heart.
- Vitamin A – Statins block the absorption of Vitamin A.
True Causes of Heart Disease
- Inflammation
- Sugar
- Stress
7 Point Plan For Reducing The Risk Of Heart Disease and Obesity
- Eat an anti-inflammatory diet, for example the Mediterranean Diet
- Reduce grains, starches, sugar and omega-6s
- Manage stress through short meditation and practice it regularly…everyday
- Exercise regularly… don't exercise to lose weight but to stay healthy
- Drink only in moderation, if you don't drink then don't add it to your diet, but if you do drink…do it moderately
- Quit smoking and if you don't smoke, don't even think of smoking as it's unhealthy and inflammatory
- Supplement intelligently including Omega-3, Magnesium, etc (see below)
Omega-3
- Known as the wellness molecule
- Among the most anti-inflammatory molecules on earth
- Can improve mood, skin, hair, joint health, triglycerides, and blood pressure
Magnesium
- Needed over 300 biochemical operations
- Lowers blood pressure as it relaxes artery walls
- Helps control blood sugar
- Most people don't get enough, so supplementation is important
CoQ10
- Named “ubiquinone” because it is ubiquitous
- Needed to make energy (ATP=Adenosine triphosphate) – organs with the greatest energy requirements like the heart need most of this
- We make less as we get older
- Depleted by statin drugs
Citrus Bergamont Extract
- Lowers triglycerides
- Lowers blood sugar
- Raises HDL cholesterol
- Lowers inflammatory LDL-b cholesterol
D-Ribose
- 5-carbon sugar, one of the components of ATP(Adenosine triphosphate)
- Helps red blood cells carry oxygen
- Revitalizes mitochondria (energy production factories in the cell)
Curcumin
- Extracted from turmeric, spice that makes curry yellow
- Supert anti-inflammatory
- Antioxidant, anti-thrombotic and cardiovascular protective effects
- BCM-95 curcumin most obsorbable
Resveratrol
- Ingredient in red wine and skin of dark grapes
- Shown to turn on longevity genes (SIRT)
- Protects arteries by improving elasticity
- Inhibits blood clots, lowers oxidized LDL, and lowers blood pressure
- Does on the trans-resveratrol component
Vitamin D
- All around superstar: cancer, mood, weight loss, physical performance in older adults, bone health, etc
- Low levels associated with 81% increased in risk for fatal heart disease, 64% increased of heart attack, and 57% increased risks of early death
Vitamin C
- Humans can't make it so supplementation is a must
- For the heart, it's a powerful antioxidant
- The lower the blood level of Vitamin C, the higher the risk for heart failure according to the American Heart Journal study
Summary Of Jonny Bowden's Presentation
- Cholesterol does not cause heart disease, and it's not even a good predictor of it.
- The old test for good and bad cholesterol is obsolete, and the new test is called the particle test.
- The conventional wisdom on saturated fat is wrong.
- The demon in the diet are sugar and junk foods.
- There are nutrients extremely important for the heart health such as the supplementation list mentioned.
- Statin drugs have multiple and serious side effects and are being wildly overused.
The Oiling of America and Heart Disease
This presentation is originally prepared and written by Mary Enig, Ph.D., researcher and nutritionist with unconventional belief and position about saturated fat's role in diet and health.
Since Mary is not with us anymore, her colleague Sally Fallon Morell did the presentation, who is also a nutritionist, researcher, and community activist, and president of the Weston A. Price Foundation.
The video is over 2 hours of play. I will also be putting a timeline list below so if you're only interested in a certain topic, you can just skip and go directly to a particular timeline.
Time format is HH:MM:SS (Hour:Minute:Seconds).
- 00:59:57 – What Is Cholesterol?
- 01:21:28 – Saturated Fats Effect
- 01:27:04 – How Studies Are Manipulated?
- 01:32:21 – Cholesterol Lowering Drugs
- 01:33:35 – Statin Side Effects
- 01:39:21 – What Causes Heart Disease?
- 01:43:23 – Recipe for Health Care Crisis and Enormous Profits
What Is Cholesterol?
To learn more about the detailed explanation, please refer to the timeline in the video at 00:59:57, or refer to the timeline reference above.
- Sterol: Large sterol molecule made by almost every cell in the body.
- Key Role: Makes cells waterproof so ther can be a different chemistry inside and outise the cell.
- Healing: Nature's healing substance such as repair wounds including tears in arteries.
- Structure To Cells: Gives structural integrity or proper stiffness to cells like cellulose in plants.
- Vitamin D: Precursor to Vitamin D, needed for healthy bones, calcium metabolism, reproduction, normal growth, eyesight, nervous system.
- Bile Salts: Precursor to bile saults, neede for fat digestion.
- Hormones: Precursor to vital sex hormones and protective steroids.
- Antioxidant: Powerful antioxidant that protects agains free radicals.
- Brain and Nervous System: Essential for development and function of brain and nervous system; needed for proper functioning of serotonin receptors in the brain.
The Many Roles Of Saturated Fats In Health
- Cell Membranes – should be 50% saturated fatty acids.
- Bones – Saturated fats help the body put calcium in the bones.
- Heart Disease – Lower Lp(a), a marker for heart disease.
- Heart Function – Saturated fats are preferred food for the heart.
- Liver – Saturated fats protect the liver from alcohol and other poisons.
- Lungs – Can't function without saturated fats.
- Immune System – Enhanced by saturated fats.
- Essential Fatty Acids – Work together with saturated fats.
- Detoxification – Supports body's detox mechanisms.
Comparison Table Between Saturated and Trans Fats
Saturated Fats | Trans Fats | |
---|---|---|
Cell Membranes | Essential For Health Function | Interfere with Health Function |
Hormones | Enhance Hormone Production | Interfere with Hormone Production |
Inflammation | Suppress | Encourage |
Heart Disease | Lower Lp(a). Raises Good Cholesterol | Raises Lp(a). Lowers Good Cholesterol |
Omega-3 | Put in tissues and conserve | Reduce levels in tissues |
Diabetes | Help insulin receptors | Inhibit insulin receptors |
Immune System | Enhance | Depress |
Prostaglandins | Encourage production and balance | Depress production; causes imbalances |
Summary Of Traditional Diet Principles
This is from the slide of the last video that states “Traditional diets maximized nutrients while modern diets minimized nutrients.” Below is a comparison between Traditional and Modern diets.
Traditional Diets | Modern Diets |
---|---|
Foods from fertile soil | Foods from depleted soil |
Organ meats over muscle meats | Muscle meats, few organs |
Animal fats | Vegetable oils |
Animal on pasture | Animal confinement |
Dairy products raw and/or fermented | Dairy products pasteurized |
Grains and legumes soaked/fermented | Grains refined, extruded |
Bone broths | MSG, artificial flavorings |
Unrefined sweeteners like raw honey and maple syrup | Refined sweeteners |
Lacto-fermented vegetables | Canned vegetables |
Lacto-fermented beverages | Modern soft drinks |
Unrefined salt | Refined salt |
Natural vitamins in foods | Synthetic vitamins added |
Traditional cooking | Microwave, Irradiation |
Traditional seeds or Open pollination | Hybrid seeds, GMO seeds |
Lastly, here's another detailed explanation about statins including topics about cholesterol and its importance in the bodily processes plus many others.
This is explained by Dr. Stephanie Seneff, a senior research scientist at MIT. For more of his credentials in details, click here.
An Informative Cholesterol Insights
Additionally, I would like to quote an informative reply to the video at YouTube by Tomas Nofziger. His reply provided additional insights;
If you review the Mevalonate PathwayREF studied in undergraduate biochem and in first year medicine, taking clear note of the downstream effects of blocking HMG coenzyme A reductase, you'd have to agree that statins are pernicious.
But most doctors without a Ph.D. and independent research don't know what cholesterol is or what it is needed for in the body (I worked at a medical school genetics lab) including:
- myelination and re-myelination of axons / adrenal steroid hormone production / stabilization of 100 trillion cell membranes and countless organelle membranes / vitamin D (a hormone) production—a hormone that informs about 930 genes / etc…
- prenylated proteins which anchor other proteins to membranes like the enzyme complexes of the Electron Transport Chain, about 10,000 of them per mitochondrion…
- ubiquinones, ten of them, where the lack of CoQ10 (ubiquinol) results in rhabdomyolysis / where CoQ shuttles high energy electrons from Complex I to Complex III of the ETC / etc.
- dolichols needed for glycosylation of proteins where glycosylation takes place in endoplasmic reticulum, cisternae in Golgi apparatus and site specific modification
- sterols, obvious biochemical role in steroid hormone production
- Heme A for oxygen transport
If you block all these essential biomolecules, how can use of statins not contradict the Hippocratic Oath of doing no harm?
Recent (Finnish) Study On High Cholesterol Foods
Just recently, this mid-February 2016, a study conducted by Finnish researchers presents more proof that consuming foods with high cholesterol content is not a factor in increasing the risk for heart disease. The researchers conclude;
Egg or cholesterol intakes were not associated with increased CAD risk, even in ApoE4 carriers (i.e., in highly susceptible individuals).
According to Jyrki K. Virtanen, lead author of the study and adjunct professor of epidemiology at the University of Eastern Finland;
Moderate intake of cholesterol…including up to one egg a day, doesn’t seem to increase the risk of heart disease, even among those people at higher risk.
The Finnish study monitored over a thousand men who are initially health between ages 42 and 60 years of age.
About 30% of these men were carriers of ApoE4, which a gene variant to potentially increase someone's risk of developing heart disease, and even Alzheimer's disease.
Diet Evaluation
The Finnish researchers evaluated their diet by giving the participants questionnaires and then monitored them for 21 years. Their diets include by consuming about 2,000mg of cholesterol per week, and over 25% of it comes from eating 4 eggs each week on average.
As a reference, an egg contains about 180mg of dietary cholesterol. During the duration of the study, there were 230 men who developed CAD(coronary artery disease).
Finnish Study Conclusion
After considering all the factors like education, smoking behavior, age, BMI measurements, hypertension, diabetes plus other traits, the Finnish researchers found no link between developing a cardiovascular disease and total dietary cholesterol or eating high-cholesterol foods like eggs in either carriers or non-carriers of the gene ApoE4.
Furthermore, the researchers also looked at the participants carotid artery thickness, which is a way to measure atherosclerosis, and they found no link between eating dietary cholesterol and thickness of the artery, as well.
Where To Get Supplementation?
For supplementation mentioned above, you can check with your doctor where to get it. Or, check them at your local trusted health store. You can also obtain these supplementations at Amazon.com.
Here are a few of the best-selling supplements you might want to check.
- Dr. Tobias Optimum Omega 3 Fish Oil
- Doctor's Best High Absorption Magnesium
- Jarrow Formulas Ubiquinol QH-Absorb
- Jarrow Formulas Citrus Bergamot
- Doctor's Best Best D-Ribose Featuring Bioenergy Ribose
- Organic Curcumin (Turmeric) with Bioperine
- Potent Organics Turmeric Curcumin
- BRI Nutrition Resveratrol Maximum Strength Supplement