Debunking the Cholesterol Myth – Higher Levels Can Actually Mean Greater Longevity

A recent study (The LDL Paradox) done on over 6 million people has cast significant doubt on the need to reduce LDL-C levels

“About a decade ago, cardiologist Stephen Sinatra, M.D., and I [Jonny Bowden, PhD, CNS) came together to write a book to expose what we believed were two of the biggest—and most destructive—medical myths in the world: One, that heart disease is caused by eating too much fat and cholesterol, and two, that statin drugs are the answer.”  (from “The Cholesterol Myth”, Jonny Bowden)

One common pattern that I have noticed among patients visiting my office during the past 10 years is that they come bearing prescriptions from previous doctors for statins and other cholesterol-lowering drugs that suppress production of LDL-cholesterol. At least 90% or more of these people are over the age of 50 with both men and women being prescribed the drugs in equal numbers. Most of these people had no significant side effects from the prescriptions, but at least 10% complained of muscle pain, fatigue, memory problems and abnormal liver toxicity symptoms like nausea with abnormally high liver function tests.

This begs the question: Do people really need to lower their blood level of LDL-cholesterol to prevent heart disease with potentially dangerous drugs? If we lower the LDL is greater longevity the result? I think not.

Case in point: I was recently intrigued by numerous emails from an elderly patient (age 81) who had been prescribed a statin drug to lower his borderline high LDL-cholesterol. When he started taking it he developed severe leg cramps within two weeks, and so he just stopped using the drug and then became extremely concerned that he would die of a heart attack as a result. Now that he’s off the drug, he continues to have leg muscle pain but it’s slowly improving with natural therapies and physiotherapy.

Coincidentally, I recently heard a lecture by an American MD online who claimed that a person can live longer with high LDL-cholesterol and that we shouldn’t be suppressing it with liver-toxic drugs like statins. Can a person really live longer if their LDL-C is higher than the reference “normal” range?

“When it comes to heart health, many people (doctors included) are still focusing on cholesterol numbers. But the truth is cholesterol is not the cause of heart disease. In fact, half of all people who die of a heart attack have normal cholesterol levels. Plus, half of all people with high cholesterol don’t have heart disease.”  Dr. Stephen Sinatra (cardiologist and author)

Higher Cholesterol Linked to Longevity

In the past I have written in Vitality magazine about natural alternatives to the statin drugs used to lower blood levels of cholesterol – but do we really need to do that? A recent study (The LDL Paradox) done on over 6 million people has cast significant doubt on the need to reduce LDL-C levels. The extensive study concluded that the whole cholesterol hypothesis is invalid.

What this study found was that those people with the highest LDL-cholesterol readings lived as long as – or longer than – those with normal or low LDL-C levels whether they were on a statin drug or not. The levels of LDL-C were not associated with cardiovascular mortality. High LDL-C levels were not found to be associated with a reduced lifespan.

It appears obvious that high cholesterol levels do not kill anybody. The study concluded by saying that the widespread promotion of LDL-C-reducing drugs is unjustified and it may even worsen the health of the elderly because LDL-C supports the health of the immune system including the elimination of harmful pathogens. The article concludes that the whole cholesterol hypothesis is invalid.

Cholesterol Benefits

“Two forms of fat that are vitally important for brain health are cholesterol and saturated fat.” — Dr. David Perlmutter

Roughly 85% of the cholesterol in your blood comes from your liver’s own manufacture of it. If you consume high cholesterol foods, your cholesterol blood levels do go higher temporarily, but the liver then manufactures less and eventually the blood levels go lower. Eliminate cholesterol entirely from your diet and the liver starts manufacturing more of it.

The moral of this story is don’t be chicken of the egg. Eggs are definitely a high cholesterol containing food but they do not increase the risk of heart attacks. Dietary cholesterol is not the reason why cholesterol levels spike higher. Many seniors have mistakenly stopped eating eggs for fear of high cholesterol blood levels, yet eggs are high in protein and have important micronutrients for cardiovascular and nervous system health.

Eggs are a high cholesterol containing food but not a concern as a heart attack risk factor. Dietary cholesterol is not the reason why cholesterol levels spike higher.

Cholesterol blood levels can change significantly from one time of the day to another. In northern latitudes especially, higher levels of cholesterol are seen in the winter rather than the summer, possibly because of the cholesterol lowering effect of vitamin D from the sun. Cholesterol goes high after an injury, such as can occur with surgery. It can also go higher as a response to mental stress, an infection, as well as during and after a heart attack. Cholesterol is the basic building block of vitamin D. If you suppress LDL-C with a statin drug you may well cause a deficiency in vitamin D and numerous problems with immunity, bone health, hormones and nervous system health.

Why does the body go to such lengths to maintain cholesterol levels if it’s something that is so horrible? Are there good reasons to have adequate amounts of cholesterol in the body? Overwhelmingly, the answer is yes. Cholesterol is a healing or repair agent much like what we call antioxidants. The body makes more of it as a response to oxidant stress from numerous sources. For example, if you smoke cigarettes, your cholesterol level is likely to be high because the body needs protection against the toxins found in tobacco smoke.

We are all exposed to toxins from food, water and air on a regular basis. The greater the toxin exposure, the more the body needs to protect itself. One of the mechanisms by which this occurs is the production of more cholesterol by the liver. Suppress that function with a statin and you risk developing degenerative diseases more easily.

Half of all heart attacks occur even though cholesterol levels are well within the normal range. This “normal” range has changed frequently over the past 30 years, going lower and lower, thus accommodating the hypothesis that just about everyone has ‘too high’ cholesterol levels. This makes it easier for doctors to dismiss patient concerns with a quick statin prescription. Many heart attack patients that I’ve seen in the past 40 years had a “normal” or even low cholesterol reading at the time of their heart attack. Most were on statin therapy at the time which appeared not to have worked to prevent the attacks.

Cholesterol is an integral part of the structure of every cell in the body, including the cells of all our blood vessels, so life would cease to exist without cholesterol. It is used by the body to manufacture testosterone, estrogen, progesterone, cortisol and DHEA. Low levels of cholesterol can lead to deficiencies in these hormones and subsequent acceleration of aging.

Just about every woman who reaches menopause will have a high LDL-C because the gonadal hormones are low and the body manufactures more cholesterol to manufacture these hormones. To suppress the LDL-C would then make menopausal discomforts worse. In my practice I’ve seen many menopausal women complaining of depression after being on statin drugs for several months.

Cholesterol insulates nerves and is responsible for healthy nervous system function. Many diseases of the brain and nervous system (such as Parkinson’s disease, depression and suicide, Alzheimer’s disease and multiple sclerosis) can be aggravated, if not caused by, low cholesterol levels. This fact could be one of the reasons why memory loss is made worse by statin drugs.

Cholesterol deficiency can lead to numerous digestive system problems because bile salts are made in the liver from cholesterol and these salts are important for proper digestion.

The body also manufactures vitamin D from cholesterol through the action of the sun on exposed skin, and if cholesterol levels are low a vitamin D deficiency could result. As we now know, low levels of vitamin D can increase the risk of cancer by as much as 60%. Could this be one of the mechanisms by which statin drugs increase cancer incidence? Low levels of vitamin D have been proven to weaken immunity.

The brain accounts for approximately a quarter of all the cholesterol in the body. The myelin sheath that covers every nerve in the body is made of at least one-fifth cholesterol. Communication between nerves and the integrity of messages between neurons is partially dependent on adequate cholesterol levels. The brain functions abnormally without adequate cholesterol because receptors for serotonin require cholesterol to work properly – so depression, violence, memory impairment and suicide are all more likely to occur.

Dangers of Statin Drugs

It has never been conclusively shown that lowering cholesterol levels saves lives. Certainly, its efficacy in preventing a first heart attack is unproven. Lowering cholesterol can, in fact, be related to a greater death risk, especially from cancer.

Since the correlation between total cholesterol and heart disease is practically nonexistent, a stronger correlation was sought many years ago. Hence the myth of a “good” (HDL or high density lipoprotein) and a “bad” (LDL or low density lipoprotein) cholesterol was created. The truth is that cholesterol is just cholesterol. In the blood, it combines with other things such as proteins, simply because fat and water do not mix well and proteins are good carriers of fat molecules.

If you suppress cholesterol with a statin drug you may well cause a deficiency in vitamin D and problems with immunity, bone health, hormones and nervous system health

Statin drugs deplete the body’s reserves of CoQ10, the most important antioxidant for the heart. Low levels of CoQ10 will increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. This might explain why heart attacks seem to regularly occur in those on long term statin use.

Virtually all Type 2 diabetics are prescribed a statin drug to keep LDL-C as low as possible. This is totally unnecessary and not based on any real evidence. The level of LDL-C has no association with mortality in diabetics and there are studies that show a worsening of diabetic symptoms when statins are used.

Low LDL-C is associated with a greater risk of cancer. This fact has been established now for at least four decades.

The real cause of heart disease is inflammation – not the levels of any cholesterol subfraction. There are many causes of inflammation triggered by environmental, dietary, emotional, and genetic influences. And there is growing evidence of an infectious disease source, amongst many other theories.

Conclusion

“I’ve come to believe that cholesterol is a minor player in the development of heart disease and that whatever good statin drugs accomplish has very little to do with their cholesterol-lowering ability.” Dr Steven Sinatra, cardiologist

The cholesterol narrative is just a myth and is well utilized by mainstream medicine to create financial profits. Big Pharma has been highly successful in scaring the public into taking drugs they don’t really need. In fact, as many new studies suggest, these drugs can shorten lifespan. Don’t just listen to me but read the research I’ve quoted in the reference section and see for yourself that you can live healthier and longer without cholesterol suppressing drugs. Discuss this with your doctor if he or she is open to thinking outside the intellectually constipating box of mainstream medicine.

REFERENCES

The Cholesterol Myth: Why Doctors are Becoming More Skeptical about Cholesterol Numbers: https://todayspractitioner.com/cardiovascular-health/the-cholesterol-myth-why-doctors-are-becoming-more-skeptical-about-cholesterol-numbers/

The LDL Paradox: Higher LDL-Cholesterol is Associated with Greater Longevity: https://www.meddocsonline.org/annals-of-epidemiology-and-public-health/the-LDL-paradox-higher-LDL-cholesterol-is-associated-with-greater-longevity.pdf

Bad Cholesterol Can Make You Live Longer: https://www.drberg.com/blog/bad-cholesterol-can-make-you-live-longer

Lack of an association or an inverse association between low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol and mortality in the elderly: a systematic review: https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/6/6/e010401

Natural Alternatives to Statin Drugs for Lowering Cholesterol: https://vitalitymagazine.com/article/challenging-the-statin-drug-dogma/

Vitamin D and Cholesterol Levels: https://www.drberg.com/blog/muscle-aches-low-cholesterol-and-vitamin-d-deficiency

Heart Attacks and Cholesterol Levels: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170412105837.htm

Dr. Stephen Sinatra, The Great Cholesterol Myth: https://www.healthydirections.com/articles/heart-health/the-great-cholesterol-myth

Dr. Malcolm Kendrick, The Great Cholesterol Con: The Truth About What Really Causes Heart Disease and How to Avoid It: https://www.amazon.ca/Great-Cholesterol-Really-Causes-Disease/dp/1844546101