This is part 2 of a multi-part series of short "illuminations" on cholesterol.
Cholesterol is the most well-known, misunderstood, and demonized of all substances found in humans and animals. If the subject of health comes up in medicine or culture, you can be sure the lead topic will be cholesterol.
Let's explore cholesterol vs "cholesterol"
The devil creates confusion.
When you hear cholesterol, what is meant?
Is it the actual cholesterol molecule? or..
Is it the "total cholesterol" calculation - where the amount of the actual cholesterol molecule is unknown?
99+ % of the time, the word cholesterol means the "total cholesterol" calculation.
Note that the word cholesterol contains "sterol." This is because cholesterol is a sterol-derived substance. Importantly, this means it is NOT a lipoprotein. Therefore, associating cholesterol with LDL is incorrect. What is true is that cholesterol is a building block of all cell membranes and structures like LDL. Refer to the image in the 1st blog in this series.
Let's get right to the truth, as provided by Harvard Medical School. Their insignia is "veritas," which means "truth." I put this in quotes because money often corrupts their truth.
Here are the key paragraphs from this article:
Cholesterol in the brain Despite its well-deserved notoriety as a cause of heart disease, (we can agree to disagree with this statement. Interesting the use of the word "notoriety.")
cholesterol is essential for human health.
It is the building block of steroid hormones, including the stress hormone cortisol and the male and female sex hormones, including testosterone and the estrogens.
Cholesterol is also an essential component of the membranes that surround all human cells.
More than simply holding cells together, these membranes have a crucial role in regulating cell function and allowing chemicals to pass into and out of cells.
Because cholesterol is so vital, the body does not rely on diet to provide it. In fact, most of the cholesterol in the blood is manufactured in the liver.
Statin drugs reduce the liver's cholesterol production by targeting the enzyme HMG-CoA reductase; and by lowering blood cholesterol levels, they protect arteries from damage. - THIS STATEMENT IS COMPLETELY WRONG - THE DRUG TARGETS LDL PRODUCTION, NOT THE CHOLESTEROL MOLECULE. MIND BOGGLING THAT THEY - HARVARD - COULD MAKE SUCH AN ERRONEOUS STATEMENT.
Most of the body's organs get the cholesterol they need from the blood. Similarly, when the body breaks down cholesterol, its components return to the liver for reprocessing.
The brain has a higher cholesterol content than any other organ. In fact, about 25% of the body's cholesterol is found in this small organ, which accounts for less than 2% of the body's weight. -SO OBVIOUSLY GOD INTENDED TO DESTROY OR BRAINS - AND THAT OF ANIMALS BECAUSE THEIR BRAINS ARE LOADED WITH CHOLESTEROL - ACTUAL CHOLESTEROL........ OR
IS THERE SOME OTHER REASON? NAMELY WHAT HARVARD WROTE AT THE BEGINNING OF THIS ARTICLE.
Most of the cholesterol is in the myelin sheaths that surround the axons of nerve cells, protecting the cells and facilitating the speedy transmission of the electrical impulses that govern thought, movement, and sensation. WHO NEEDS THIS - WHO NEEDS TO THINK, MOVE AND FEEL SENSATIONS?
The brain is highly dependent on cholesterol. Like the liver, brain cells depend on HMG-CoA reductase to produce cholesterol. The brain's cholesterol is much more stable than the cholesterol in other organs, but when it breaks down, it is recycled into new cholesterol right in the brain. Scientists have learned a lot about cholesterol and the brain, but they still have a long way to go. The same is true for researchers who are puzzling out the relationships between cholesterol and cholesterol-lowering drugs and:
psychological function,
stroke, and
memory loss (dementia).
WHAT THEY MEANT BY THIS LAST STATEMENT IS THEY KNOW THAT LOWERING CHOLESTEROL CAUSES THESE DISEASES AND CONDITIONS - BUT LET'S JUST RESEARCH THIS FOR ANOTHER FEW DECADES WHILE PEOPLE CONTINUE TO EXPERIENCE THESE PROBLEMS WHILE ON STATINS.
NOW WE KNOW WHERE FAUCCI ET. AL. GOT THEIR IDEA ABOUT DISTRIBUTING A HARMFUL VACCINE.
JUST LIKE THE JAB - STATINS DRUGS ARE A BIG HUMAN EXPERIMENT ON YOU!
By the way, you can no longer find the article behind this quote. Apparently, veritas only holds true when it doesn't upset the money narrative.
Is elevated "total cholesterol" a bad thing? (I will always put the term "total cholesterol" in quotes because it is NOT total cholesterol.
Often, the word "bad" is associated with total cholesterol. And the bad is said to be the LDL particle. But is LDL really the bad part of "total cholesterol"? In fact, it is not.
As a reminder, TC is (HDL + LDL + 20% of your triglycerides value).
Is there a "bad" in TC? Actually, there is.
First, I am unaware of any substance our bodies produce that is actually bad.
Thomas Sowell, the brilliant economist and social analyzer, famously states,
"There are no solutions, only trade-offs"
This phrase is equally applicable to human health as it is to life. Your body has to make tradeoffs. When you body needs repair, LDL goes up. If you have sufficient repair molecules, HDL goes up. If not, HDL is low. This is why HDL is referred to as good. LDL is referred to as bad because it goes up when there is damage in need of repair.
This is a very important distinction that traditional doctors do NOT comprehend. We need to completely change the medical education system completely. Beyond the Flexnor report, Doctors were substantially "dumbed down" when pharmaceutical companies were allowed to contribute to medical school education. This started around 1980. So we have 2 generations of medical doctors that know physiology (sort of), but they do NOT know what causes disease.
What is the "bad" in "total cholesterol"? If it is not LDL or HDL, then it must be triglycerides. Triglycerides are a reflection of sugars. It is made in response to excess intake of sugars and low-value carbs. Triglycerides are NOT technically "bad," keeping with the thesis that the body does not create something to harm you. Instead, they are produced as part of an evolutionary survival mechanism to store (squirrel away) fuel in response to feast and famine cycles humans experienced before modern technologies intervened.
Thomas Sowell learned from our bodies - "there are no solutions, only trade-offs." With a ridiculously high intake of carbs and sugars, triglycerides are forced to go up.
We know sugars are generally bad, and fats are generally good. Therefore, this ratio is a good measure of health:
Triglycerides
-------------------
HDL
An even better marker is the AIP, which is the log of the above value It stands for the atherogenic index of plasma - that is, it is a measure of potential heart disease.
Triglycerides
AIP = -------------------
HDL
Here are the results from a study conducted by Johns Hopkins medical school published in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings.
Note that mortality risk goes DOWN as "total cholesterol" goes above 200. Also, note that mortality goes UP as the AIP values go UP and is a much stronger signal than the other markers. When AIP goes up - which IS BAD - it is because HDL goes down and triglycerides increase.
NOTE: This has NOTHING TO DO WITH LDL! WHICH IS THE SO-CALLED "BAD" CHOLESTEROL.
So what is it, cholesterol or "cholesterol." Only these conclusions can be drawn:
The actual cholesterol molecule is essential for human health. There is NOTHING BAD about the actual cholesterol molecule.
Sugars are the problem, as reflected in the AIP equation.
Fats are generally good - as reflected in the AIP equation.
Upcoming (short) blogs
Number 1: Cholesterol fun (true) facts
Number 2: Is the actual cholesterol molecule important?
Number 3: What is an optimal TC value? Remember, no one knows their actual cholesterol molecule value.
Number 4: Surprising fact about cholesterol (ab) Jupiter study
Number 5: TC simple math - dumb doctors
Number 6: What is LDL really?
Number 7: Statins - do they lower the cholesterol molecule?
Number 8: What did we learn from the new "biologics" to lower "cholesterol"
Number 9: Niacin and other "cholesterol" management treatments
Number 10: What did Natasha Campbell-McBride say about cholesterol/lipids?
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