With someone in North America dying of a cardiovascular disease (CVD) every 39 seconds,
it is no wonder CVD is such a prominent health concern in our society.
Unfortunately, despite heart disease being one of the most talked about
health risks, it also happens to be one of the most mistreated and
misdiagnosed conditions around. For half a century, people have been
following medical advice based on outdated research on CVD. When it
comes to the prevention and treatment of the disease, low fat and low
cholesterol diets have been recommended and backed by the medical
community for decades. This belief that diets high in cholesterol and
saturated fat are building blocks in the development of CVD is so deeply
engrained in our society that people refuse to believe the more current
and respected research.
Only a small portion of the cholesterol
in your body comes from diet, as the body cannot absorb a large portion
of the cholesterol you ingest. In fact, the liver creates 75% of your
body's total cholesterol. Your body has the ability to regulate
cholesterol in the blood and modifies internal production levels based
on dietary intake. If you do not ingest enough cholesterol, the body
makes more and if you ingest higher amounts of cholesterol, the body
makes less. Recent studies have shown that cholesterol intake through
diet has little to no effect on blood cholesterol levels of most people.
Basically, eating cholesterol is not going to give you a heart attack
and lowering your cholesterol intake will do relatively nothing to your
body's overall blood cholesterol levels. Saturated fat has also been one
of the medical industry's main concerns when it comes to CVD as it has
been said to raise cholesterol levels in the bloodstream. Current
research is not in agreement with this theory and has found that instead
of being harmful, saturated fat can actually have a positive effect on
your cardiovascular health.
When it comes to saturated fat,
although some studies have found that diets high in saturated fat
increase blood cholesterol levels, more recent and longer-term studies
have found little to no connection between the two. Several other
studies conducted on low carb diets, which are often high in saturated
fat, have concluded that saturated fats actually have a positive effect
on cardiovascular health and CVD risk markers/factors. Low-carb diets
high in saturated fat have been linked to weight loss and have neither
decreased nor increased the amount of LDL ("bad cholesterol") in the
bloodstream. These studies have found many health improvements in their
participants related to saturated fat intake, including its positive
effects on blood pressure, BMI, abdominal circumference, etc. Overall,
many of the more recent and respected research has found that saturated
fat is linked to a lower risk of CVD as well as stroke.
In 2008,
American's spent $300 billion dollars on cardiovascular disease; almost
double what it would take to end world hunger. In reality, heart disease
can be treated with much less cost and a much higher success rate by a
change in diet and a few other lifestyle changes. The key to a happy,
healthy heart is not found in cholesterol lowering medications or low
fat-diets. A word of caution. Medical advice/trends do not change with
research. Medical advice tends to change with funerals. As opinion
makers die, new people with new leadership and new ideas tend to change
practice guidelines. Don't be discouraged if your doctor doesn't agree
with this. Statin drugs are the leading class of drugs being sold on
this planet. Billions of dollars are spent every year on lowering
cholesterol. There is a lot of "love" in support of the "cholesterol is
bad" camp. It isn't going away anytime soon. Do your research and take
control of your health. It is yours to take care of, not your doctor's.
