The Cholesterol Myth- It does not cause Heart Disease

The Cholesterol Myth- Debunkedr
Last week I read one of the most informative books I have read in a very long time. The book is called The Great Cholesterol Myth, by Jonny Bowden and Dr. Stephen Sinatra. It is my sincere wish that every physician and person read this informative book. Here is a brief synopsis on what I learned.
Is cholesterol the great threat we have been told to believe and does it really cause heart disease? New research is proving that nothing could be further from the truth.
Let’s begin at the beginning.
What is cholesterol?
Cholesterol:
• is a waxy substance that is found in every cell in your body
• helps to produce hormones, cell membranes, Vitamin D and bile acids needed for digestion
• is made in the liverr
If you don’t get enough cholesterol in your diet your liver will simply make more and vice versa.
Yes, we need cholesterol! The question is how much and what type?
There are two types of cholesterol
1) LDL-Low density lipoprotein (also known as the ‘bad’ cholesterol)
2) HDL- High density lipoprotein (also known as healthy or ‘good’ cholesterol)
Old school told us that total cholesterol was a good indicator of heart disease, but this is no longer correct. We also thought that if LDL was high, that you might need to be on statin drugs.
We now know that there are different types of LDL and not all of them are bad.
LDLA is fluffy-like a cotton ball and is harmless. LDLB is small and hard and if it becomes oxidized, it can stick to the arterial walls and cause issues. Knowing how high your LDL is, isn’t helpful unless you know which type of LDL is high. Most physicians look at the total LDL number, not the size and type.
Some Interesting Facts
• Statin drugs deplete the body of Co enzyme Q10, which is needed for a healthy heart.
• Statin drugs cause cognitive and memory problems as well as depression
• Not all LDL is bad
• Not all HDL is good; it has varying degrees
• Just because you have high HDL does not mean you are not susceptible to heart disease
• Good HDL reduces inflammation
• Bad HDL does not reduce inflammation, so this is why some people who have high HDL can still develop heart disease
• Half the people with heart disease have normal cholesterol
• Half the people with elevated cholesterol have healthy hearts
• Lowering cholesterol has limiting benefits
• Cholesterol is not the cause of heart disease
Did you read that correctly? Yes you did, but it is worth repeating, cholesterol is not the cause of heart disease.
This brings me to the real cause of heart disease, no not cholesterol or fat, but inflammation.
Inflammationr
There are two types of inflammation, acute and chronic. Acute is when whack your ankle against something and it gets red and a little inflamed and takes a day or two to heal. Chronic inflammation is silent and it kills. Chronic inflammation is usually undetected and yet it is the cause of most degenerative diseases such as cancer, arthritis, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, heart disease, kidney disease and obesity.
Oxidationr
Inflammation happens when oxidation takes place in the body. Oxidation is really aging, or a type of rusting from within. A good example of oxidation is how an apple turns brown when left out on the counter.
Cholesterol is only a problem if it has been oxidized or damaged. Damaged or oxidized LDL cholesterol sticks to the walls of the arteries and begins the process of inflammation. Inflammation begins with free radical damage and leads to heart disease. So the concept of good and bad cholesterol is quite outdated.
Do you have heart disease?
The best predictor of heart disease is to measure the ratio between your triglycerides and your HDL levels. High triglycerides tend to correlate with the bad LDL or LDLB and usually mean you are insulin-resistant, which also is indicative of heart disease. Reducing your triglycerides and raising your HDL levels will, in turn, lower your chances of heart disease.
Sugarr
Sugar, not fat, is the #1 dietary contributor to heart diseaser
High sugar intake drives up insulin, which raises blood pressure and increases cholesterol which then contributes to inflammation in the arterial walls.
Sugar also raises triglycerides. When sugar sticks to the protein in your blood it creates AGEs (Advanced Glycation End-Products), which are damaging and toxic to your body. This same process damages LDL, contributing to inflammation which leads to heart disease.
3 Ways to Stay Healthy
• Having low triglycerides
• Having High HDL levels
• Having Low insulin levelsr
Insulinr
Insulin is known as the fat-storing hormone and is the cause of many illnesses.
It makes our body's cells absorb glucose from the blood. The glucose is stored in the liver and muscle as glycogen ( its sister hormone) and stops the body from using fat as a source of energy. Together they maintain blood sugar levels.
When you eat a donut and drink a sweet drink your blood sugar rises and your pancreas produces insulin to combat all the sugar you have just ingested. The insulin rounds up the excess sugar and sends it over the muscle cells. If you go out and exercise it out then all is fine, but if you sit in your car or at your computer for hours then it just sits in your cells. Then you eat lunch and your pancreas produces more insulin and it sends it to the muscle cells, but they say, “we don’t want it,” so they resist it and the excess sugar goes to your fat cells. After constant bombardment, the fat cells say, “no more,” and become insulin-resistant.
Now the insulin starts to talk to your kidneys and it tells them to hold onto salt and the kidneys bring on more water to stabilize and dilute the salt. Increased sodium retention results in increased water retention, which means more blood volume, which means higher blood pressure. Approximately 70 percent of people with high blood pressure are insulin-resistant. Therefore insulin can raise your blood pressure.
If you keep assaulting your body with high sugar intake or a high carbohydrate diet, your fat cells become more resistant and insulin resistance takes over. If your insulin stays high, diabetes ensues. Insulin also locks the door to the fat cells so it make is very difficult to lose weight. Chronically high insulin promotes inflammation, therefore promoting heart disease.
Did you know that you probably consume approximately 156 pounds of sugar a year?
Are You Insulin-Resistant?
Did you know that one in three people is insulin-resistant in North America? You could be insulin-resistant if:
Your belly touches the wall before the rest of your body
You’re a male with waist sizes more than 40 inchesr
You’re a woman with waist sizes more than 35 inchesr
And this is interesting—you can be thin and insulin resistantr
The good news is that insulin resistance is reversibler
A good predictor of insulin resistance is comparing your triglyceride levels to your HDL levels. If your ratio is 3 or more, it is a good indication of insulin resistance and a good indication that you have the bad LDL.
High triglycerides correlate with high LDLB or the bad LDL. Low levels of triglycerides tend to mean you have more of the harmless LDLA particles.
Being insulin-resistant means the insulin in your body is contributing to the inflammation in your body. This damages the LDL cholesterol, which then starts plaque formation.
By lowering your triglycerides raising your HDL you may reduce your risk of heart disease.
Lowering your sugar consumption will more than likely lower your triglycerides and your fasting insulin.
Sugar Factsr
Table sugar is made up of fructose and glucose. Regular sugar is 50 percent glucose and 50 percent fructose. High fructose corn syrup is 55 percent fructose and 45 percent glucose. Fructose is the damaging part of sugar. Some call it metabolic poison to the body. It goes straight to the liver and turns to fat. Fructose is the major cause of a fatty liver and a fatty liver equals insulin resistance.
When you eat a piece of fruit, the fibre helps slow down the insulin response in the body, but when you eat high-fructose corn syrup, it raises your triglycerides and uric acid, as well as your appetite.
Start to read food labels and you will soon realize that high-fructose corn syrup is in almost every pre-packaged food item there is. It is cheaper to produce than white sugar, and it is far sweeter. It also increases appetite where glucose decreases appetite, which explains why fast food restaurants love it. Fructose leads to insulin resistance, which leads to inflammation which then leads to heart disease, so sugar or high fructose corn syrup is far more damaging to the heart than fat or cholesterol.

Conclusionr
Hypertension, high triglyceride levels, and high ratio of triglycerides to HDL are all greater predictors of heart disease than cholesterol or fat. Sugar or, more specifically, fructose, raises every one of these.
Yes, fat raises LDL, but the harmless LDLA, and it lowers the LDLB or bad LDL. Sugar, on the other hand, increases the bad LDLB particles and decreases the harmless LDLA particles.
Seems like there are far worse things for us that cholesterol, don’t you think?

Tests to ask your Doctor for
1) Particle Size Test: will measure LDL particle size. If you have pattern A cholesterol profile, most of your LDL cholesterol is big and fluffy, and harmless. If you have pattern B, most of your LDL is the small pellet-size cholesterol, which causes inflammation. NMR LipoProfile Test, the Lipoprint, the Berkeley, the VAP or LPP tests will measure your LDL.
2) C-Reactive Protein (CRP): is a marker for inflammation. Ask for the (hs-CRP) test
3) Fibrinogen: is a protein that determines the stickiness of your blood. Normal levels are between 200 and 400 mg/dl and can be elevated when inflammation is present. Ask for either the Clauss method or the FIF test.
4) Serum Ferritin: checks for amount of iron in your blood
5) Lp(a): elevated Lp(a) is a serious risk factor
6) Homocysteine: is an amino acid by-product that causes your body to lay down sticky platelets in blood vessels. Excess levels can affect your cardiovascular health.
7) Interleukin-6: is important because it stimulates the liver to produce CRP. Higher levels have been associated with asthma and heart disease.
8) Coronary Calcium Scan: calcium is fine in the bones, but not so good if it’s in your coronary arteries.
Foods to Eat
1) Grass-fed meats
2) Wild salmon
3) Vegetables
4) Nuts and seeds
5) Berries
6) Beans
7) Garlic and turmeric
8) Dark chocolate
9) Green tea
10)Olive oil
11) Red Winer
Foods to Avoid
1) Sugar
2) Processed carbohydrates
3) Trans fats
4) Processed meats
5) Vegetable oils
6) Sodar
Lifestyle Changesr
Lower your stressr
Meditater
Practice yogar
Express emotionsr
Play
Cultivate intimacyr
Enjoy life

Resources: The Great Cholesterol Myth by Jonny Bowden, PH.D., C.N.S and Dr. Stephen Sinatra, M.D.,F.A.C.C.