But What About Cholesterol?

Cholesterol is completely misunderstood. From it’s technical form, function, measurement, and purpose, most people completely misunderstand it. Cholesterol itself is likely not the problem. In fact, in terms of blood measurements, low cholesterol could end being more of a problem than high cholesterol. True, there do appear to be some blood measures that give us an indication that there may be some health risks, but cholesterol is not the problem, it has just been weakly correlated with a problem. Elevated blood level cholesterol is an indicator that there is a potential problem. In all actuality it just means that your body has more circulating cholesterol, which some people say doesn’t mean much of anything. We need good functioning cholesterol in every cell of our body to live healthy lives and for numerous bodily functions (our cells use it for cell walls, structural integrity, temperature regulation and nerve cell insulation, memory formation, fat digestion relies upon cholesterol, as does sex hormone regulation, and vitamin D production stems from cholesterol). Trying to limit cholesterol, particularly through drug intervention, is a potential disaster waiting to happen unless you really know what you are doing.

Check out these articles/websites for more details…

Cholesterol-and-health.com Website with in-depth resource and info

The Cholesterol Myth… Article from Dr. Mercola

Thincs.org Society of skeptics, very detailed and extensive info

Does High Cholesterol Cause Heart Disease? HeartScan post

High Cholesterol Does Not Cause Stroke (But Carbohydrates Might) Article from Dr. Briffa

The related question… But what about statins? Oh boy, here we go. Just kidding, this seems to be pretty simple (remember, this is just my opinion, not medical advice). Unless you have had a heart attack, don’t bother. If you’re really worried and the articles I share don’t help, take aspirin. Same basic effect with no side effects and a lot less money going to the drug industry.

Some articles on statins…

Do Statins Save Lives in Healthy People? No. Article from Dr. Briffa

Do Statins Reduce Small LDL Cholesterol? Post from Mark’s Daily Apple

The Truth About Statin Drugs Healthy Skeptic reviews statin drugs

Statin Effects Study Source for statin effects

You can also check out the Bare 5 Articles A to Z section and Cholesterol and Statins for more links.