Oops, they got it wrong about cholesterol

[claig]

"We've all spent time worrying about our cholesterol levels, but what if it was all... a conspiracy! What if the truth was that eating lots of fat doesn't clog your arteries and kill you, and that there's been a deliberate effort to ignore that evidence in order to secure the financial fortunes of Big Pharma's major anti-cholesterol drugs?"

www.cbsnews.com/news/dawn-of-the-cholesterol-skeptics-big-pharma-conspiracy-theorists-get-a-turn-in-the-spotlight/

"Flawed science triggers U-turn on cholesterol fears"
...
Its Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee plans to no longer warn people to avoid eggs, shellfish and other cholesterol-laden foods.

The U-turn, based on a report by the committee, will undo almost 40 years of public health warnings about eating food laden with cholesterol. US cardiologist Dr Steven Nissen, of the Cleveland Clinic, said: 'It's the right decision. We got the dietary guidelines wrong. They've been wrong for decades.'

Doctors are now shifting away from warnings about cholesterol and saturated fat and focusing concern on sugar as the biggest dietary threat.

The Daily Mail's GP Martin Scurr predicts that advice will change here in the UK too.
...
He added that the food industry had effectively contributed to heart disease by lowering saturated fat levels in food and replacing it with sugar.

Matt Ridley, a Tory peer and science author, yesterday said there should be an inquiry 'into how the medical and scientific profession made such an epic blunder'.

He described the change of advice in the US as a 'mighty U-turn' and said studies linking high cholesterol and saturated fat in food to heart disease were 'tinged with scandal'."

www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3096634/Why-butter-eggs-won-t-kill-Flawed-science-triggers-U-turn-cholesterol-fears.html

I wonder if a similar thing will happen in about 40 years to the "save the planet" climate change warnings.

Oops!

I may have to get all my nutrition books out (not wtten by the great and the good) but by researchers who have studied the science and disagree with the official line and give an alternative analysis

You surprise me

I mostly eat non processed food.

A diet crap in vegetables and fruit (that's my fault)

Rice, potatoes and pasta.

But I do lapse with pizzas. I counterbalance that with red wine.

'you've been dismissing cholesterol all along'

No, I have dismissing their claims that eggs, butter, meat etc are bad for you.
I don't believe their climate change game that meat harms the "planet" or human beings when we eat it. I'm a sceptic, I don't believe the great and the good.

'I say GM is bad for you

I'd love to debate this one - but then the whole thread would get derailed.'

Don't worry about derailing. Threads are organic, they grow and should not be restricted. Discuss it and the thread will expand in that direction. hackmum is right that on GM you will never convince me, because I take into account politics and the elites and their game, not just science, but it is interesting to see how you can argue that GM is good for you apart from the great and the good's usual argument that they want to "save the planet" and "feed the world" wiith it.

Your OP

We've all spent time worrying about our cholesterol levels, but what if it was all... a conspiracy

TG / HDL ratio
HDL / Cholesterol
HDL / LDL

All cholesterol levels. Not a conspiracy.

The food bit is a red herring. But as you've agreed, diet affects these levels.
Statins - I think that diet is probably more effective.

great and the good's usual argument that they want to "save the planet" and "feed the world" wiith it

Not a bad argument. Feeding the world.

Rice, potatoes and pasta.'

Lots of carbs. I eat too much of that too, though I know I should cut back on it

I was a product manager of a statin for a BigPharma and we knew that only 10% of cholesterol is from diet. They weren't the patients we wanted, we were all chasing African and Indian patients with familial hypercholesterolaemia. It's a non story.

Not a bad argument. Feeding the world.'

That is because they have taken you in and you believe their spin. They are all philanthropists, they all care, they all support charidees. They said there were WMDs in Iraq too. They are the elite that is what they do

You have to understand politics and who runs the world. It is not the puppets in Parliament. they don't make the decisions and you have to understand what the real elites are capable of and what they have got planned.

Here is Noam Chomsky telling a rather naive BBC interviewer "who controls the world"

I'm sad Beeaware was banned. I thought of her when I was reading The Children Act by Ian McEwan, which covers some of this issues she used to post about. Maybe Beeaware was the username of Ian McEwan...[strokes chin]

'we were all chasing African and Indian patients with familial hypercholesterolaemia'

Why African and Indian and not European too?

'I'm sad Beeaware was banned.'

Yes, she was sad too because she wanted to help people and warn them.

On what grounds was she banned? I know people used to moan on her threads. She only made the points McEwan makes in his book.

She said they wouldn't let her post anymore because she was upsetting people and they had complained and she was only posting on that one issue. She said they would let her post but not on the one issue she wanted to post and inform people about.

I'd like to know more about the FH patients, Coco, too.

She should return, then; get addicted to MN, post about cats and kittens, and be subtle on health issues.

Interesting thread...

Yes, been known for a long time that the link between a high cholesterol diet and high blood cholesterol probably wasn't causative. (I.e they might not be linked), but some ppl do see a reduction in blood cholesterol with a low cholesterol diet (possibly because they are doing other healthy things like cutting down on smoking because it's been raised as an issue).
However, the high blood cholesterol level can be linked with worse cardio-vascular incidents (heart attacking, stroke, etc); taking a statin can help reduce the risk.
As for familial hypocholestrolemia, it's a genetic predisposition to high blood cholesterol, often found in specific BME groups, who incidentally are less likely to get checked in the first place. That's why pharma would be chasing (in order to get them treated with a statin; which is good, because it reduces risk of death; and good if you sell drugs, because you'd be selling more drugs ).

oldsu that is a little harsh. I think the point cocosnapper was making was that in her experience the African & Indian patients gave results that supported the taking of statins and hence supported the potential profit margin of the company she was working at.

It doesn't sound from the tone of her post that she supported the manipulation of the results. I therefore doubt that she would support the crippling of anybody.

Old su ive reported your post. Apart from being offensive it's downright silly.

AcademicOwl is bang on with her summary of the patients we targeted.

Familial Hypercholesterlaemia - you've got those patients whose cholesterol used to be about 12 mmol /l/

Twice the "normal" .

The liver just makes too much cholesterol.

www.patient.co.uk/health/familial-hypercholesterolaemia

The most important feature is the development of heart disease at a young age. This is caused by patches (plaques) of atheroma developing within the walls of the heart (coronary) arteries (see below). This can lead to a heart attack (myocardial infarction) as a young adult. You might also notice:

The outlook for people with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolaemia is usually good if they maintain a healthy lifestyle, have regular checks and take their medication without fail. The most significant complication is heart disease or another cardiovascular disease that may develop at a younger age than usual. The outlook for those with the more severe (homozygous) form of the condition is less good.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1853359/

The world-wide prevalence of FH is about 1 in 500 people. This prevalence is sufficiently high to warrant the diagnosis and treatment of FH at primary health care level by the World Health Organisation.4 More recently, FH has been shown to be due to other molecular mechanisms in lipoprotein metabolism.5

Cocosnapper what for? , its a well known fact that Statins can cause severe muscle problems they crippled my Husband that's what I meant by my comment

Sorry should have bolded your name as I was replying to you so maybe it didn't come out how I meant it

oldsu muscle pain is a recognised side effect of statins, but it's relatively rare. Suggesting that cocosnapper wanted to cripple anyone does seem unfair, to say the least.

It's still offensive to suggest I wanted to cripple ANYONE! I wanted to pay my mortgage and bring up my kids. Your posts are v silly.

Orlando, is the use of statins by FH patients therefore justified in your view? I have heterozygous FH and have started taking statins again after a long break due to fears of ineffectiveness and side effects.