The Cholesterol Myths - some astonishing facts

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http://www.ravnskov.nu/cholesterol.htm The Cholesterol Mythsby Uffe Ravnskov, MD, PhD New! My comments to the recent statin trial, The Heart Protection Study Read also My comments to the New Cholesterol Guidelines, published last year by the National Cholesterol Education programThe idea that too much animal fat and a high cholesterol is dangerous to your heart and vessels is nothing but a myth. Here are some astonishing and frightening facts. Click on the figures if you want the scientific evidence! 1Cholesterol is not a deadly poison, but a substance vital to the cells of all mammals. There are no such things as good or bad cholesterol, but mental stress, physical activity and change of body weight may influence the level of blood cholesterol. A high cholesterol is not dangerous by itself, but may reflect an unhealthy condition, or it may be totally innocent. 2 A high blood cholesterol is said to promote atherosclerosis and thus also coronary heart disease. But many studies have shown that people whose blood cholesterol is low become just as atherosclerotic as people whose cholesterol is high. 3 Your body produces three to four times more cholesterol than you eat. The production of cholesterol increases when you eat little cholesterol and decreases when you eat much. This explains why the ”prudent” diet cannot lower cholesterol more than on average a few per cent. 4 There is no evidence that too much animal fat and cholesterol in the diet promotes atherosclerosis or heart attacks. For instance, more than twenty studies have shown that people who have had a heart attack haven't eaten more fat of any kind than other people, and degree of atherosclerosis at autopsy is unrelated with the diet. 5 The only effective way to lower cholesterol is with drugs, but neither heart mortality or total mortality have been improved with drugs the effect of which is cholesterol-lowering only. On the contrary, these drugs are dangerous to your health and may shorten your life. 6 The new cholesterol-lowering drugs, the statins, do prevent cardio-vascular disease, but this is due to other mechanisms than cholesterol-lowering. Unfortunately, they also stimulate cancer in rodents. 7 Many of these facts have been presented in scientific journals and books for decades but are rarely told to the public by the proponents of the diet-heart idea. 8 The reason why laymen, doctors and most scientists have been misled is because opposing and disagreeing results are systematically ignored or misquoted in the scientific press. Do you want to know more? Read my book "The Cholesterol Myths". This is an updated and greatly extended version of this site. In addition to the subjects mentioned above, you can read about the many unsuccesful cholesterol-lowering experiments the meaningless animal experimentsfamilial hypercholesterolemia and why you shouldn´t bother too much about itthe myths about triglyceridesthe dangers associated with an overconsumption of polyunsaturated oilsthe illogicals around the Mediterranean dietthe fallacies of Dr. Ornish´s life-style trial ...and much more including cartoons by Sidney Harris, Robert Mankoff, Johnny Hart, Junko Innanen, Tim Toles and Harley L SchwadronReviews of the book: Stephen Byrnes, PhD, ND, RNCP Michael Gurr, PhD Ira Pilgrim, PhD Ray Rosenman, MD Bodil Jönsson, PhD (in Swedish) Joel Kauffman, Research Professor The book is available from New Trends Publishing, Washington DC or from Bokklubben Medikament, Sweden (click on "Bokbeställning" and remember to give your name, address, telephone number and email address in the letter).Printing error: Figure 1B is wrong. A correct figure has been enclosed separately in the book, except, unfortunately, in a few. The correct figure is available as a jpg fileImportant! I am completely independent. No part of my research, including this website and my book, were funded or influenced by any governmental, industrial or charitable organization.