A common objection to low-carb diets is the argument of cholesterol. That long-denigrated denizen of molecules invokes the image of tiny, malicious, fatty foes, lurking in our veins, waiting for any opportunity to clog our precious arteries. We've all heard that we must avoid eggs, butter, fatty foods, etc to keep this dreaded enemy at bay; and every year the "ideal" numbers creep to ever lower depths while every third commercial reassures us that there are a plethora of friendly little pills standing ready to help us reach those goals.
But really, what exactly is cholesterol? What does it do? How did it get its terrible reputation, and - most importantly - does lowering it in our bloodstreams actually make us healthier?
Out there on the fringes of the medical world is a small but growing sound of dissention - people are starting to question the unquestionable. It seems the forgone conclusion linking cholesterol to heart disease isn't quite as forgone as has been advertised; in fact, what we've been taught may be outright wrong.
I submit for your perusal a series of articles on cholesterol.
http://eatingacademy.com/nutrition/the-straight-dope-on-cholesterol-part-i
Will you be able to verify this information through "acceptable" medical resources? Probably not. But when the foxes guard the henhouse, you can't expect straight answers from them. Read and consider: who really benefits from the cholesterol craze?
Ha I made a comment on a previous post asking if you had read this article series and then I come across this post! So glad you read this! Dr. Peter Attia never got to his conclusion I feel like as what to do to reduce risk for CD. But I suspect what he would say is that a diet high in carb (and more specifically fructose) loads the LDLs with more triglycerides. Therefore, more LDL particles to transport the same amount of cholesterol. What do you think? Also, I wonder what role advanced glycogen end products and hemoglobin A1c plays in this.
ReplyDeleteHeh, you're getting more in depth than I feel qualified to comment on. I am certain high carb - especially the fructose and artificial sweeteners - have a bigger effect on cardiac health than we know yet, though I'm starting to see research studies that are at least debunking the artificial sweetener myths. It'll be interesting to see how things play out over time; in the mean time, I'm definitely an advocate of keto. It's the only diet I've ever adopted that actually got me to a healthy weight, and I enjoyed every minute of it!
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