Cholesterol is Irrelevant to Heart Disease

Heart disease was an uncommon cause of death at the beginning of the 20th century, a time when meat and butter were mainstays of the American diet. Beef, bacon, sausages, and pork were consumed in relatively large quantities. Thus, there is no causal link between the consumption of cholesterol and the etiology of heart disease. A national study indicates that 75% of patients hospitalized for a heart attack had cholesterol levels that would indicate they were not at high risk for a cardiovascular event, according to current national cholesterol guidelines. Thus, there is no causal link between serum cholesterol levels and heart disease. Historically, the largest increase in mortality from heart disease parallels increased consumption of unstable polyunsaturated oils. In 1955, stable animal fats became increasingly abandoned in favor of polyunsaturated oils. By 1960, heart disease was killing one in three Americans. False Assumption: In 1908 and 1913, Russian researchers fed rabbits diets high in saturated fats and cholesterol. Because rabbits are vegetarians, their bodies do not have the enzymes required for metabolizing cholesterol. The blood cholesterol readings in these animals rose to values 10 to 20 times higher than the highest values ever noted in human beings. The entire bodies of these rabbits became overwhelmed with cholesterol that they could neither metabolize, store, nor excrete. They did not die from heart attacks but from starvation. Selection Bias: In 1953, Ancel Keys published a report allegedly showing a correlation between the consumption of cholesterol and the incidence of heart disease in 6 countries. Keys committed selection bias, however, because he had the data from 22 countries but included only those 6 which supported his foregone conclusion. One of the countries he excluded was France, which has both a high consumption of cholesterol and a low incidence of heart disease. Had Keys plotted all 22 sets of data, there would have been no correlation whatsoever, simply random points on a graph. Reference: Rowland D. Bypass the Bypass: Restore Circulation Without Surgery. Seattle, 2016: Amazon.com Inc., pp 49-56.