As counter-intuitive as it seems, with the misguided health information perpetuated by the media today on a regular basis, the higher your cholesterol level is, the lower your risk of dying from cardio-vascular disease!
In "Is the use of cholesterol in mortality risk algorithms in clinical guidelines valid?" a study of 10 years of data from the Norwegian HUNT2 study, published in The Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice by Peturssen, H et al it was concluded that "The dangers of cholesterolshould be revised." They went on to state "This is especially true for women, for whom moderately elevated cholesterol may prove to be not only harmless, but beneficial".
The study, of 10 years duration, investigated whether cholesterol levels are a risk for mortality in 52,087 individuals (24,235 men and 27,852 women) aged 20-74 and free from known cardio-vascular disease at the start of the study.
The study found that compared with women whose cholesterol was under 5.0 mmol/L (193 mg/dL) those with a reading over 7.0 mmol/L (270 mg/dL) experienced a 28% reduction in death.
The study also found that compared with men whose cholesterol was under 5.0 mmol/L (193 mg/dL) those with a reading over 7.0 mmol/L (270 mg/dL) experienced an 11% reduction in death.
Additionally, compared with women whose cholesterol was under 5.0 mmol/L (193 mg/dL) those with a reading over 7.0 mmol/L (270 mg/dL) experienced a 26% reduction in cardio-vascular diseases.
For men, compared with men whose cholesterol was under 5.0 mmol/L (193 mg/dL) those with a reading up to 5.9 mmol/L (270 mg/dL) experienced a 20% reduction in cardio-vascular diseases.
Cholesterol is consistently blamed for causing heart disease, when the data supports the opposite.
Well intentioned, but misguided vegetarians and vegans, and those purporting that cholesterol can be managed or lowered through an exclusively plant-based diet, continue to perpetuate the myth that cholesterol is dangerous. It is an essential component of life!
A link to the follow-up research noted in this article are available here: