We learned that the sugar industry in 1965 actually paid off leading doctors from Harvard to lie about the health risks of sugar by twisting the facts. If they would blame fat for the health problems, like high cholesterol, that sugar seems to be causing, the sugar industry could sell more sugar.
Sugar Industry Bribe/Lie Exposed Regarding Cholesterol.
In 2016, Time magazine wrote a story that announced a new report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The report contained proof that sugar companies bribed leading doctors to lie to you and tell you that sugar was safe, when they knew it wasn’t. In fact, Ancel Keys the author of the low-fat diet craze, also received funding from the Sugar Association, as well.
The group now known as the Sugar Association, approved “Project 226”, which was faulty science aimed at making fat the bad guy and vindicating sugar in the role of health problems related to cholesterol, heart disease, diabetes and obesity.
Not everything you think you know on this topic is fact.
Is Cholesterol the Villain We Have Been Taught to Believe?
Cholesterol is an extremely important fat-like waxy substance found in all the cells of the body and in some foods. It is a precursor necessary to create vitamin D, several hormones and bile salts that break down your proteins, carbs and fats. It also plays a very important role in your brain, as it helps create neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine.
Cholesterol is transported in our circulation via fat particles known as lipoproteins. They are called LDL or low-density lipoproteins, HDL or high-density lipoproteins and VLDL or very low-density lipoproteins. They are like little cars that carry the cholesterol around to where it is needed.
Cholesterol isn’t the Bad Guy, Inflammation is.
When inflammation is elevated in our bodies, cholesterol gets oxidized, which forms triglycerides and damages blood vessel walls. This is why inflammation is the driver of heart disease.
Inflammation actually damages the blood vessels, and cholesterol is a response activated by your body when a blood vessel is damaged via inflammation. Once the lesion occurs in the vessel, your body sends cholesterol over to cover the area to prevent further damage, kind of like a patch or a Band-Aid on the damaged, weakened blood vessels.
Do Statins Decrease Risk of Heart Attack or Stroke?
- Many people who have heart attacks do not have high cholesterol levels.
- Cholesterol is not the biggest reason for heart attack or stroke.
- A very large study using data from the World Health Organization, established that only half of the people who have heart attacks have elevated LDLs.
- Of those 50% on statins, twenty percent still had a heart attack.
Side Effects of Statins:
The FDA requires warning labels stating statins can cause:
- Memory Loss,
- Mental Confusion,
- Liver Problems
- Type-2 Diabetes.
In addition, research has shown that nearly half of women who take statins eventually develop diabetes, which increases your risk for dementia.
We aren’t telling anyone to stop taking their statin medications. But we will tell you that just taking a statin will not get to the true underlying cause of heart disease, inflammation.
Statins Lower your Total Cholesterol Number, but Cannot Stop Injury to your Arteries From Inflammation.
Artificial reduction in total cholesterol alone will not change your overall risk of cardiac disease.
There are specific ratios and blood level values that will tell you more than your total cholesterol number. There are actually two sizes of LDLs, and this is more important than your overall LDL number.
Large particle LDLs are not harmful to your health; while smaller, denser LDLs can create problems as they squeeze through the lining of your arteries, oxidize and trigger inflammation, which leads to the laying down of plaque.
The large fluffy LDLs carry a lot of vitamin E, which fights off the free radicals that cause damage. They pose a very small chance of being oxidized and causing damage in the circulatory system.
One size doesn’t fit all with Cholesterol.
- Four people can have the same LDL of 125, but have different outcomes.
- Those with lots of LDLs with small particles, are at high risk.
- Those with large LDL particles, are at low risk.
Your cholesterol ratios are better and stronger indicators of your risks.
There are great cholesterol calculators online that you can plug your cholesterol numbers into to see where you fall. We often use hughcalc.org/chol.php. It’s simple and gives you a lot of ratio information.