Has your doctor used the “you have high cholesterol” line on you yet?
Did hearing these grave words make your hands shake and your face go pale?
Did you immediately call or text your spouse after you left the doctor’s office? Did you drive just a little too fast as you drove to the first pharmacy drive-thru to get your statin prescription filled?
It’s time to end the madness about high cholesterol, because you see, cholesterol isn’t going to kill you and contrary to conventional belief, it’s not going to make you drop dead of a heart attack if you don’t religiously take statin drugs for the rest of your life.
It’s time to start listening to those doctors who are telling us the truth: evaluating heart disease risk is far more complex than a snap evaluation of a single number like total cholesterol.
Furthermore, it’s time to carefully weigh the ample scientific evidence that cholesterol is actually beneficial, not detrimental, to our health! Consider the research of Dr. Harlan Krumholz of the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine at Yale University, consistently ignored by the statin pushing crowd, who reported that old people with low cholesterol died twice as often from a heart attack as did old people with high cholesterol.
Besides the fact that “total cholesterol” is a meaningless number in and of itself, taking statin drugs carries huge health risks such as muscle wasting, significant cognitive impairment and cancer. That’s right, the c-word. In every single study to date conducted on rodents, statins caused cancer. One human trial showed that breast cancer rates of women taking statins were 1500% higher than than of controls (source). In addition, a study showed that women who take statins for 10 or more years increase their risk of breast cancer by nearly 2.5 times (source).
Let’s examine a few other cholesterol myths so the next time you’re sitting in a doctor’s office and the person in the white coat is pushing statins on you, you are armed with evidence supporting your position to just say no.
Natural cholesterol has many benefits in the diet!
Cholesterol Myths #1: People with high cholesterol are more likely to have a heart attack.
It is indeed true that men who are young or middle aged have a slightly greater risk for heart attack if their total cholesterol level is over 300. However, for elderly women and men, high cholesterol is associated with a longer life. In addition, cholesterol levels just below 300 carry no greater risk than very low cholesterol levels. The suggestion by conventional medicine to take statins if cholesterol is over 180 or 200 is completely arbitrary and harmful over the long term.
Cholesterol Myths #2: Cholesterol and saturated fat in foods like butter, egg yolks and liver clog arteries.
This myth has no basis in fact as arterial plaques contain very little cholesterol or saturated fat. 75% of arterial plaque is made up of unsaturated fat, of which 50% is polyunsaturated. Only the remaining 25% is saturated. Moreover, the greater the concentration of polyunsaturated fat in the plaque, the more likely it is to rupture, a primary cause of heart attacks. Chris Kresser L. Ac sums it up well:
the notion that saturated fat “clogs arteries” and causes heart attacks is totally false. It is actually polyunsaturated fat — the so-called “heart-healthy fat — which has those effects.
Cholesterol Myths #3: Eating saturated fat and foods like butter cause cholesterol levels to rise and make people more susceptible to heart attacks.
If this is true, why then have heart attack rates risen as people have avoided saturated fats like butter, meat fats and egg yolks? There is no evidence that saturated fat and cholesterol rich foods contribute to heart disease and doctors that continue to claim this are just plain wrong with at least two major studies confirming this (source).
Cholesterol Myths #4: Cholesterol-lowering drugs save lives.
Statins do not result in any improvement in outcome in recent trials involving thousands of test subjects. Why risk the devastating side effects of statins like cancer and mental decline when they won’t help anyway? (source)
Cholesterol Myths #5: Countries that have a high consumption of animal fats and cholesterol have higher rates of heart disease.
The elephant in the room with this myth are countries like France where butter, cream, and pate are eaten with abandon with no corresponding increase in heart disease (source). According to Dr. John Briffa, top honors graduate of the University College London School of Medicine:
You’ll sometimes hear about the ‘French paradox’, which describes the phenomenon of low heart disease rates in France ‘despite’ a diet rich in saturated fat. Well, it seems that this ‘paradox’ is not limited to France, but is alive and well in several other countries too including the UK, Germany, Austria, Finland, Belgium, Iceland, the Netherlands and Switzerland. In other words, it’s not a paradox at all. It’s only a paradox if one believes saturated fat causes heart disease. The thing is, there’s really no good evidence that it does.
So relax! The next time you’re sitting in the doctor’s office reviewing the results of your latest blood test and the words “high cholesterol” and “statin drugs” are spoken in the same breath, just smile politely and say “no thanks”.
Feel confident in your decision to opt out of the statin madness.
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
Sources:
Fat and Cholesterol are Good for You by Uffe Ravnskov, MD, PhD
Ignore the Awkward: How the Cholesterol Myths are Kept Alive by Uffe Ravnskov, MD, PhD
The Cholesterol Myths by Uffe Ravnskov, MD, PhD
The French Paradox is Not a Paradox
How to Increase Your Risk of Heart Disease
Heart Surgeon Speaks Out on What Really Causes Heart Disease
Jane Qualmann….read this. An apple a day is better than any statin.
My doctor said that no one should be on them but they are especially harmful to woman.
Eat whole foods, and eliminate gluten, and/or all grains. Then one will likely no longer have an issue with cholesterol. Eating real food heals the body and keeps it well.
Titi Priscilla have you read this?
Are you a Dr that can give blanket and quite frankly, negligent advice such as this? Statins save lives & to suggest otherwise makes you look like a potential lawsuit with those claims.
Colleen Carlson read this!
This article is a good start to the debate but omits significant information and has some misleading information. Basically, its the HDL/LDL ratio that is the far more significant number. HDL molecules of fat are larger than the LDL molecules. The LDL molecules embed in arteries and build-up over time which can lead to heart disease, high blood pressure, attack, and stroke. The HDL molecules assist in preventing the accumulation of LDL molecules and even help push them out of our system. The singular goal is to keep the HDL as high as possible. Exercise is the best way to make this happen. However, a diet that raises HDL and lowers LDL is also necessary.
I have inherent, chronic high cholesterol through family genes, about 200-230 without meds. I took statins most of my like but quit after my doctor explained the damage they cause to livers at the high dosage I needed to bring down my cholesterol level. I switch to a natural cure of a combination of non-flushing niacin and red yeast rice. My cholesterol is at 125 and my hdl/ldl ratio is nearly .40, the ideal.
Some foods are surprises at improving the hdl/ldl ratio. Studies have found eggs and wine in moderation raise hdl. Do the research yourself, and talk to progressive doctors not bound to the statin pill mill. You’ll also learn statins don’t stop cholesterol, they actually only slow its buildup.
Look, I’d love to agree, but last June 11, at age 68, I had a heart attack and subsequent five-way artery rebuild. I was not overweight, rode my bike everywhere (still do) and did pilates twice a week, and the only indicator of possible problem was an elevated cholesterol level (but also incredibly high good cholesterol readings–“the second highest in my practice,” my doc was fond of bragging on me, and it’s a very large practice indeed in Chicago’s loop). I was supposed to be taking statins but wasn’t. For me, it worked out, insofar as I didn’t die and now have a new heart–I could have limped along with five clogged arteries for many years, and I realize now I was limping along, a case of mind over matter (Catholic, go figure, we just soldier on-but everything is easier now, with clear arteries, than it was). I eat a high fat diet, did and do, but I’m also taking the statin. According to Gary Taubes’ research, he would repeat what this article says except for one thing: it has been demonstrated that statins do seem to prevent heart attacks. My doc attributes my artery problem to my infidelity-broken heart–cholesterol is, for one thing, an anti-inflammatory, and broken hearts (which have a characteristic shape, which mine did, the surgeon told me afterwards) apparently cause all kinds of inflammation. I have now eliminated dairy and other inflammations have cleared up, my long-standing ‘arthritis ‘ for one. I am not having any apparent side effects from the statin.
Janet, I am sorry that you had a broken heart. I’m glad you wrote to mention that because it is a very important part of the health picture — our thoughts and emotions have a lot to do with our health. Not necessarily so much that this was done TO you, but how you reacted TO it (not a blame, just that this is sort of how it works). There are ways to mitigate damage from emotional devastation, and many of us often do not get the emotional and healing support we need (of the right type or sufficient), and many of us do not know what to do for self-care, to help heal, nor do many of us realize the importance of safeguarding our emotional/spiritual wellbeing so that these crises do not impinge upon our physical health.
You do not mention other aspects of your diet, which also may have been a factor in your heart attack. But this emotional aspect is extremely important piece of the puzzle.
I read your credentials, I did not see any medical education or work in the medical field. How did you gain this medical knowledge. I think it is not very responsible to recommend your medically uneducated opinion to others on matters that you have no expertise in. You are dangerous.