The so-called "bad cholesterol" -- low-density lipoprotein commonly called LDL -- may not be so bad after all.
Steve Riechman, researcher in the Department of Health and Kinesiology, says a study reveals that LDL is not the evil Darth Vader of health it has been made out to be in recent years and that new attitudes need to be adopted in regards to the substance.
Riechman and colleagues examined 52 adults from ages to 60 to 69 who were in generally good health but not physically active. The study showed that after fairly vigorous workouts, participants who had gained the most muscle mass also had the highest levels of LDL (bad) cholesterol, "a very unexpected result and one that surprised us.
"It shows that you do need a certain amount of LDL to gain more muscle mass."
Cholesterol is found in all humans and is a type of fat around the body. Dr. Mercola explains that, "This soft, waxy substance is found not only in your bloodstream, but also in every cell in your body, where it helps to produce cell membranes, and bile acids that help you to digest fat. Cholesterol also helps in the formation of your memories and is vital for neurological function."
T.S. Wiley adds that "[Cholesterol] also metabolizes all the sex hormones and fat soluble vitamins like vitamin A, D, E and K. Without it, you'd be dead in no time."
Riechman goes on to say that a person's total cholesterol level comprises LDL (low-density lipoprotein) and HDL (high-density lipoprotein) cholesterol. LDL is almost always referred to as the "bad" cholesterol because it tends to build up in the walls of arteries, causing a slowing of the blood flow which often leads to heart disease and heart attacks. HDL, usually called the "good cholesterol," often helps remove cholesterol from arteries.
"But here is where people tend to get things wrong," Riechman says.
Ron Rosedale, MD, who is widely considered to be one of the leading anti-aging doctor in the United States, does an excellent job of explaining this concept:
"Notice please that LDL and HDL are lipoproteins -- fats combined with proteins. There is only one cholesterol. There is no such thing as "good" or "bad" cholesterol.
Cholesterol is just cholesterol.
It combines with other fats and proteins to be carried through the bloodstream, since fat and our watery blood do not mix very well.
Fatty substances therefore must be shuttled to and from our tissues and cells using proteins. LDL and HDL are forms of proteins and are far from being just cholesterol.
In fact we now know there are many types of these fat and protein particles. LDL particles come in many sizes and large LDL particles are not a problem. Only the so-called small dense LDL particles can potentially be a problem, because they can squeeze through the lining of the arteries and if they oxidize, otherwise known as turning rancid, they can cause damage and inflammation.
Thus, you might say that there is "good LDL" and "bad LDL.
Also, some HDL particles are better than others. Knowing just your total cholesterol tells you very little. Even knowing your LDL and HDL levels will not tell you very much."
Riechman assures us that "LDL serves a very useful purpose. It acts as a warning sign that something is wrong and it signals the body to these warning signs. It does its job the way it is supposed to. We need to change this idea of LDL always being the evil thing -- we all need it, and we need it to do its job."
"Our tissues need cholesterol, and LDL delivers it," he notes. "HDL, the good cholesterol, cleans up after the repair is done. And the more LDL you have in your blood, the better you are able to build muscle during resistance training."
Riechman says the study could be helpful in looking at a condition called sarcopenia, which is muscle loss due to aging. Previous studies show muscle is usually lost at a rate of 5 percent per decade after the age of 40, a huge concern since muscle mass is the major determinant of physical strength. After the age of 60, the prevalence of moderate to severe sarcopenia is found in about 65 percent of all men and about 30 percent of all women, and it accounts for more than $18 billion of health care costs in the United States.
"The bottom line is that LDL -- the bad cholesterol -- serves as a reminder that something is wrong and we need to find out what it is," Riechman says.
"It gives us warning signs. Is smoking the problem, is it diet, is it lack of exercise that a person's cholesterol is too high? It plays a very useful role, does the job it was intended to do, and we need to back off by always calling it 'bad' cholesterol because it is not totally bad."
The Myth, The Legend
Where though, did this myth come from? It came from the Lipid Hypothesis among other sources of medical Kool-aid. The 1950s Lipid Hypothesis, developed by Ancel Keys, states that fat consumption leads to cholesterol which leads to heart disease. Keys left out of his hypothesis, findings that showed that in Holland and Norway people ate much fat but don't have heart disease and in Chile, people have heart disease but don't consume much fat. This hypothesis at the core of endless dietary and health guides is wrong, which begs the question, how right can these guides be?
T.S. Wiley notes, "Like saturated fat, carbohydrates and grains, most of us get it all wrong when it gets to cholesterol. We're told to limit our consumption of butter, lard, red meat and eggs, or worse, to go on statins to reduce our blood cholesterol levels, but yet, our ancestors seem to have thrived on those foods without the predicted heart problems."
Who Profits?
"Seeing the opportunity, the pharmacology industry did a really good job of scaring us to death about high cholesterol and dietary cholesterol intake."
We have been sold a lot of lies from big pharmaceutical companies to sell their toxic drugs all of these years on our site, we pointed out that Lipitor is the most profitable drug (2009 gross revenue: $7.5 billion) is designed to lower cholesterol, Lipitor uses statins to decrease LDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels and increase HDL cholesterol levels. Studies indicate that high cholesterol increases one's chance for heart disease, the leading health problem in the U.S. Wiley points out that "Triglycerides, which are high in all of us any time we eat sugar, are the part of the sugar you've consumed that sticks to your backside to "insulate" you from cold and starvation. The insulin weight that accumulates around the middle in men and, later, in women as they age is the other half of the cholesterol equation and the reason that the cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor is not a weight-loss aid. The drugs invented to lower cholesterol knockout the enzyme HMG CoA-reductase, the enzyme that makes VLDLs, not triglycerides. "Good" cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein or HDL, is made in men's and women's guts under the control of estrogen. There are no drugs to raise HDLs. As a man's testosterone drops with aging, he has less to convert to estrogen and his lipid profile gets skewed, even if he's not fat and hypertensive." Additionally, Dr. Mercola points out that, "statin drugs inhibit not just the production of cholesterol, but a whole family of intermediary substances, many if not all of which have important biochemical functions in their own right."
"Could big pharma do a better job at finding drugs that provide real cures for disease? Or is it our responsibility to live healthier lives so we don't need cholesterol and acid reflux drugs?"
We do our best to bring out the facts to the public, nothing in great excess has ever been good, covertly, nothing that is naturally produced can be all bad. As Dr. Mercola warns of the "bad cholesterol" myth and others, "Please understand that these myths are actually harming your health".
I have experienced just the symptoms referred to in this article.
I had lost about 21lbs, in two months my face became lined and scraggy and my skin was dry and irritated, I went on to a whole avacado a day and drank Aloe Vera once a day. My skin is getting better all the time. I do take some suppliments from Nutrivital and funnily enough I have been taking Dr Mercola's Ubiquinol on their recommendation.
PS I have only just discovered sott.net you are a mine of interesting information.