Cholesterol... A Nutrient For Concern?

One Of The Biggest Concerns I Hear From People Wanting To Start A New Ketogenic Lifestyle Is That Of Cholesterol. One Thing I Hate Is Beating Around The Bush, So I’ll Hit You With This Up Front...
 

The 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee Report Concerning Dietary Cholesterol Constant With The American Heart Association Deemed That...
 

‘CHOLESTEROL IS NOT A NUTRIENT OF CONCERN FOR OVER-CONSUMPTION’

Cholesterol Is Imperative For Life!
 

Cholesterol Is Produced By The Liver And Also Made By Most Cells In The Body. It Is Carried Around In The Blood By Little ‘Couriers’ Called Lipoproteins. We Need A Small Amount Of Blood Cholesterol Because The Body Uses It To:

• Build The Structure Of Cell Membranes. Cholesterol Is An Essential Component Of Cell Membranes, Which Are The Structures That Border Every Cell In The Human Body. Without Cholesterol, T-cells (A Type Of White Blood Cell), For Example, Would Not Maintain Their Cell Membranes, Leading To Rupturing Of The Cells.
• Make Hormones Like Oestrogen, Testosterone And Adrenal Hormones
• Help Your Metabolism Work Efficiently, For Example, Cholesterol Is Essential For Your Body To Produce Vitamin D. Vitamin D Is Needed For A Good Immune System.
• Produce Bile Acids, Which Help The Body Digest Fat And Absorb Important Nutrients. In Addition, Triglycerides Are An Important Source Of Energy For The Body, Particularly When Glucose Is Deficient
• Allows The Arteries And Veins To Withstand The Pressure Of The Blood Flowing Through Them And Heals Them After We Have Any Injury.
• It Has Been Found That Cholesterol Levels In The Blood Increase Post-Surgery Aiding In The Healing Process.
• Essential For The IMMUNE SYSTEM! Immune Cells Rely On Cholesterol. Cholesterol In The Cells Helps The Immune System Fight Off Infections. LDL Binds And Deactivates Bacterial Toxins. For Example, The MRSA Bacterial Toxin Does Not Destroy Red Blood Cells When LDL Is Present. Interestingly Enough, Before Antibiotics, A Common Cure For Tuberculosis Was Daily Raw Egg Yolks And Fresh Cream!

Why Are We Told To Fear Cholesterol?

It Was Once Believed (And Unfortunately Still Is By Any) That High Cholesterol Would Build Up On The Walls Of The Arteries Causing A Process Called Atherosclerosis, A Form Of Heart Disease. Now, Where This In Some Sense Is True, We Need To Look Deeper. The Body Is A Highly Efficient Machine That Wants To Heal... Why Would It Produce A Product That Would Damage Itself?? It Wouldn’t! 

LDL Cholesterol Is Often Touted As ‘Bad Cholesterol’ Is Sent To Repair Damage To The Arterial Wall. But What Causes The Initial Damage?

The Image Below By Chemical Engineer And Nutrition Expert Ivor Cummins Shows The Damage Caused The Glycocalyx (The Arterial Wall’s First Line Of Defence) Following A High Carb Meal. It Has Been Completely Destroyed Exposing The Endothelium Allowing LDL To Access For Repair.

We’re Told To Eat Little And Often, But This Image Shows It Takes 8-12 Hours To Recover From A High Carb Meal, Meaning We Are Constantly Causing Damage, Which Requires More LDL To Enable Repair.

With This Occurring So Often We See An Increase Of Transcytosis, Which Occurs When LDL Goes Deeper Than It Should Causing It To Become Oxidised Causing Calcification, The Primary Contributor To Atherosclerosis.

Chronic Consumption Of Carbs Can Cause A Large Increase In Inflammation And This Inflammation Causes Further Damage To The Arterial Wall Requiring More LDL For Repair.

Blaming Cholesterol For Cardiovascular Disease Is Like Blaming The Firefighter For Starting A Fire.

Don’t Fear Your Natural Fats!

“In My Opinion, Eating The Way Our Ancestors Did And Living A Ketogenic Lifestyle, Consuming High Quality Animal Fats And Proteins, While Heavily Restricting, Or Completing Removing Processed Foods, Grain, Vegetable / Seed Oils High In Linolenic Acid Is The Best Way To Keep A Healthy Immune System And Prevent Chorionic Illness / Autoimmune Issues, Inflammation, Glycation, Oxidative Stress And Cardiovascular Disease.“  R.Smith

References

Jo Ann S. Carson, Alice H. Lichtenstein, Cheryl A.M. Anderson, Lawrence J. Appel, Penny M. Kris-Etherton, Katie A. Meyer, Kristina Petersen, Tamar Polonsky, Linda Van Horn, and On behalf of the American Heart Association Nutrition Committee of the Council on Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health; Council on Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology; Council on Cardiovascular and Stroke Nursing; Council on Clinical Cardiology; Council on Peripheral Vascular Disease; and Stroke Council

Maxfield FR, Tabas I. Nature. 2005; 438(7068): 612-21

France M. Abnormalities of lipid metabolism. In: Ahmed N Clinical Biochemistry. Oxford University Press, Oxford. 2011.

Diane Roberts Stoler Ed.D