Cholesterol: The Good and the Bad

[Guest guest]

Cholesterol: The Good and the Bad

http://www.spacedoc.net/cholesterol_good_bad.html

 

Increasingly over the past few years I have been urging people to forget

their cholesterol since for the great majority of us, our cholesterol level is

irrelevant to the process of cardiovascular disease.

 

This has been made obvious by the results of many longitudinal studies where

time and time again it has been observed that statins work their benefit

independently of cholesterol response. I even recommended a return to natural

butter, fresh eggs and whole milk in our diet.

 

But there is one form of cholesterol that is still very much our enemy and

that is oxycholesterol, the oxidized form of cholesterol. Oxycholesterol is the

result of exposure of our natural, non-toxic cholesterol to the oxygen in our

atmosphere. With such exposure our harmless, natural cholesterol gradually

becomes our bitter enemy.

 

Oxycholesterol joins omega 6, transfat, infectious diseases, homocysteine,

and inherited platelet and coagulation disorders as biological “triggersâ€

for

the endothelial inflammatory process underlying atherosclerosis.

 

You may recall Kilmer McCully’s reflections on rabbit atherosclerosis in his

book, " The Homocysteine Revolution. " Research in the early ‘60s showed severe

atherosclerosis resulting in rabbits fed cholesterol-laced rabbit food. To

most minds that was irrefutable proof of the toxicity of cholesterol. You feed

rabbits cholesterol, they get atherosclerosis – what more do you need to know.

 

But McCully introduced us to the two faces of cholesterol. Even though the

researchers in the rabbit studies started with harmless, natural cholesterol it

was soon converted to the toxic form when, as a component of their pellet

food, it was exposed to air.

 

McCully documented this conversion process rather dramatically by showing

that natural, fresh cholesterol could be injected directly into arterial walls

with impunity but once it had converted to the toxic, oxycholesterol form,

arterial injection resulted in severe atherosclerotic plaque development. This

process takes place daily in our foodstuffs. Powdered eggs contain some 60 times

the oxycholesterol of fresh eggs. The same goes for fresh milk versus dried

milk powder. The same process goes on with any foods in which powdered eggs or

milk are used as ingredients. Are there any cookies out there on our grocery

shelves made with fresh milk or eggs? I doubt it because of economic

considerations – fresh eggs and milk are much more costly. Even our left-overs

can become

relatively harmful after a few days when any natural cholesterol it might have

contained has converted to the oxy form because of air exposure.

 

Think about these truths during your cooking and shopping and take care, for

this is one form of cholesterol that is your enemy and will remain so.

 

Duane Graveline MD MPH

Former USAF Flight Surgeon

Former NASA Astronaut

Retired Family Doctor