But what about Cholesterol?

The latest Dietary Guidelines for Americans state that “Cholesterol is not a nutrient of concern for over consumption”. Too much cholesterol is not good for us, but neither is too little. Too little cholesterol has shown a connection to memory problems, depression and aggressive behaviour.

Cholesterol is an essential material for our body. Our body on an average needs about 950 mg of cholesterol for Daily Metabolism. Cholesterol is what your brain is primarily made up from and is essential for nerve cells to function and is also the basis for the creation of all steroid hormones, including estrogen, testosterone, corticosteroids and vitamin D. Over 85 to 90 percent of the cholesterol in our body is created by our Liver and tiny messenger substances manufactured by our gut bacteria can partly control the process. Propionate inhibits the production of Cholesterol and acetate promotes it. High Cholesterol is a clear indication that your Liver is in good health. If the fat content is less in our diet, our Liver has to work more to meet the daily requirements of our body. The rest, about 10 to 15 percent comes from our diet (meat, eggs, dairy products, coconut oils etc. All now determined as safe).

We actually have two kinds of cholesterol in our blood: the HDL (“good”) and LDL (“bad”). Total cholesterol levels are less important than the ratio of HDL to LDL hence the simpler (if kind of flawed) approach is that we should try to increase HDL and decrease LDL. Saturated fat is generally believed to increase the bad cholesterol.

But that’s only part of the story, because there are also two kinds of LDL cholesterol: big, floaty particles (type A) and small, dense ones (type B). When someone reduces their consumption of saturated fat and their LDL cholesterol “drops,” they’re only lowering their type A particles. But it’s the type B particles that are more closely linked to heart disease, and they’re generally controlled by carbohydrate, especially wheat, consumption. So the best way to cut out harmful types of cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart disease could be to follow a diet that’s low in carbs, rather than in fat and that which also aviods wheat.

Attempting to control Cholesterol by medication and strict restriction on consumption of fats, is a very dangerous practice. Studies have proved beyond a doubt that cholesterol doesn’t cause heart disease, and low Cholesterol levels won’t stop a heart attack. The majority of people that have heart attacks have normal Cholesterol levels. There is no appreciable relationship between dietary intake of Cholesterol and heart disease.

The benefit of Statins seems to arise more from their ability to somewhat lower inflammation and not the ability to lower cholesterol though they do also lower cholesterol.

Statins have been shown to prevent a second or subsequent heart attacks in people, especially men under seventy. They work slightly for middle aged men who have many risk factors for heart disease, like high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes. But for most people to whom they are prescribed, people who have never had a heart attack, – they don’t provide any real benefit and come with a whole host of side effects and risks including muscle pain effect and liver disease. Statins have been linked to dramatically higher risk of diabetes.

Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) has more to do with inflammation than with cholesterol. Hence it is necessary to make the right dietary choices so as to keep inflammation in check. Adding certain spices to food, drinking hot teas infused with ginger, lemon and other such beneficial ingredients (See – ‘Non Conventional Treatments & Folk Remedies’) and maintaining good life style habits for meal timings and making lunch your main meal, and getting adequate exercise and sleep, all help to better satisfy your nutritional needs and to maintain your Wellness.

However, to restrict absorbing too much Cholesterol from our diet, it is good to also add Phytosterols to our diet, a vegetarian substance with similar molecular structure to Cholesterol. Phytosterols compete with Cholesterol for absorption by the lower intestine and hence reduce dietary Cholesterol absorption. Best sources for Phytosterols compatible with the Low – Carb diets are foods such as nuts and seeds (peanuts, almonds, cashew), cauliflower, onions, legumes, peas and beans.

Therefore do not worry about too much Cholesterol, but as a matter of abundant caution do eat a lot of Phytosterols along with meat and eggs and consult your Physician. The real source of damage seems to be from excess consumption of sugar and of carbohydrates (especially refined carbohydrates) and of Transfats (mainly hydrogenated vegetable oils). These are far too ubiquitous in the modern diet, especially in processed foods and snacks.

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