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Lower Cholesterol Without Drugs
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Chapter 2: Risks and Diseases ______________________________________________________
It has become faddish for some people to claim that “cholesterol doesn’t count” in order to rationalize eating high fat foods they are addicted to. This is the basis of various popular fad diets where you can eat all the meat, dairy products, poultry and eggs you want to. A review of the published medical literature for the past 30 years proves beyond any doubt that eating a diet high in saturated fats causes a rise in blood fats and resultant heart and artery disease among many other health problems such as diabetes and various cancers. Some people have gone so far as to talk about the “dangers of low cholesterol”, and this is exposed in Chapter 14: Too Low Cholesterol?”
There are so many studies it is almost impossible to choose which ones to use, so we’ll use the reviews and the largest of the studies. One review (Atherosclerosis 118, 1995) from St. Bartholemew’s Hospital in London looked at ten major cohort studies around the world. They said, “A systematic examination of the evidence on the relationship between serum cholesterol and ischaemic heart disease shows conclusively that serum cholesterol reduction in populations with high rates of heart disease is an effective and safe method of reducing heart disease rates.” All of these very large studies proved that the higher the cholesterol levels the more heart disease, and no matter how much you lowered the levels (down to 150) there were continual beneficial effects. Again, we see that the ideal is about 150 mg/dl.
The MRFIT Study of 356,222 men leaves no doubt as to the facts. A chart from that study is on page 10showing the direct relation of cholesterol levels to heart and artery disease. This review (Circulation, v 88) showed that men from 40 different countries were studied. They showed that CHD rises as soon as your level goes over 150 and this is not just a phenomenon for people with high levels over 200. For every 1% rise in your cholesterol level you have a 2% rise in risk of coronary disease. The researchers said, “The relationship between serum cholesterol and six year risk of CHD death was continuous, graded, and strong over the entire range…” This means the ideal level is about 150 mg/dl and anything over that raises your risk of CHD. They also found that diet was the major cause beyond any doubt, and milk and butterfat (dairy foods) were especially indicated.
The MRFIT study was also reviewed in the Journal of the American Medical Association (volume 256, 1986). They said, “the relationship between serum cholesterol and CHD is NOT a threshold one, with increased risk confined to the two highest quintiles (groups divided into fifths), but rather is a continuously graded one that powerfully affects risk for the great majority of middle-aged American men.” Again, this means that every point over a level of about 150 increases your chances of heart disease and early death.
The Seven Countries Study (European Journal of Epidem-iology 9, 1993) had been ongoing for 25 years in 1993. Of all the factors they said, “Over 50% of the variance in CHD death rates in 25 years were accounted for by the difference in mean serum cholesterol.” Men in Japan averaged levels of about 165 total cholesterol while men in Finland, the Netherlands and the U.S. had levels of about 250! As always, the lower the level, the less the coronary disease rate. The cholesterol rate is far more important than smoking, drinking, exercise or even blood pressure.
At Providence University in Taiwan (Journal of the Am- erican College of Nutrition (v. 118, 1999) a study was done with centarians (people 100 years of age and older) to see what factors allowed them to live so long. Total cholesterol levels were one of the most important factors for predicting longevity. Even though cholesterol levels are supposed to become less predictive as we age this study showed that this is always a central key to longevity.
The American Heart Association published a Special Report in the journal Circulation in 1990 (volume 81) on the importance of cholesterol as the main indication of CHD. “The evidence linking elevated serum cholesterol to CHD is over- whelming”, they said. They reviewed all the major studies especially the Framingham, Helsinki and MRFIT since they are the largest of all. To their credit they said that diet is the most important factor here and the best solution to the problem rather than drug treatment.
The famous Framingham Study again showed that total cholesterol, HDL, LDL and triglycerides taken together are the single most important determinant of heart disease. We could go on quoting major studies like this, but the point is made, the proof is there and there can be no doubt about this. Please look at the chart below on saturated fat consumption in 40 countries and the death rate from heart and artery disease. Saturated fat in your diet is the main cause of high blood fat levels.
A 25 year follow-up was done on the Seven Countries Study (Journal of the American Medical Association 274, 1995, p). Here 12,467 men in seven different countries were studied for 10 years originally. “Across cultures, cholesterol is linearly related to CHD mortality, and the relative increase in CHD mortality rates with a given cholesterol increase is the same.” They found chol- esterol levels averaged 240 for American men, 253 for European men but only 165 for Japanese men (this was back in 1958 and the Japanese now average about 180). The Americans and Europeans had far higher CHD rates than the Japanese.
At the National Institute of Public Health in the Netherlands (Netherlands Journal of Medicine 51, 1997) doctors found that cholesterol levels increased in both men and women as they aged. In both men and women this increased an astounding 60 points from the ages of about 22 to 57. They said the main cause of this was clearly the consumption of saturated animal fats. They also agreed that many cohort studies have proven the correlation between serum cholesterol and mortality from heart disease and this risk is continuously graded with increasing levels.
Again at St. Bartholemew’s Hospital (European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 48, 1994) researchers looked at international studies. This time they looked at results from seventeen different countries and concluded, “Variations in serum cholesterol ac-counted for 80% of the tenfold range of CHD across countries.” In other words there was a ten times higher rate of illness and death in the higher levels compared to the lower levels. They also said, “These results show conclusively the efficacy and safety of attaining low cholesterol levels by dietary means in lowering the risk of CHD. Policies to achieve this objective should be a major public health strategy in the economically developed world.” These medical doctors said that DIET is the way to do this and not reliance on drugs.
The international published research over the last decade all come to the same conclusions. Total cholesterol, especially when used with HDL, LDL and triglyceride levels, is the best indicator we have for our risk of coronary heart disease - the largest killer by far in the developed world. Yes, you should also test your CRP (C-reactive protein) and homocysteine levels for an even better picture of your heart and artery health.
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