By Laura Owens
Will the real health wrecker please stand up? Just when you think you’ve figured out the worst culprits (trans fats, simple carbs and cholesterol), along comes a new finding.
A growing number of experts say weight gain, heart disease and many other illnesses are not caused by high cholesterol, but by underlying inflammation. So instead of ditching cholesterol-laden eggs (a high source of protein), they recommend you avoid foods that increase inflammation.
The confusion came from scientific observation that high levels of cholesterol damage blood vessels, leading to conclusions that it was the cholesterol causing heart disease. But cholesterol actually comes around to fix the problem caused by inflammation. “It’s the inflammation in the vessels that starts the lesion,” explained Dr. Beverly Teter, a lipid biochemist at the University of Maryland. “The body then sends the cholesterol like a scab to cover over it to protect the blood system and the vessel wall from further damage.”
Among cholesterol’s critical roles, it also protects against respiratory and gastrointestinal problems, helps create vitamin D and is particularly beneficial for the brain, which has more cholesterol than any other organ and uses it to pass messages from one cell to another.
But don’t go chowing down on cholesterol-heavy foods just yet. The key is to regulate the kinds of fats you eat.
Writes the Harvard School of Public Health, “Trans and saturated fats increase the risk for certain diseases. Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats do just the opposite.” Bad fats increase the infamous LDL, but not all LDL is dangerous. Unfortunately, standard cholesterol tests provide limited insight into cardiovascular risk.
The advanced Vertical Auto Profile (VAP) breaks down detailed lipid measures, including size of the cholesterol particles. In the case of LDL, large buoyant particles aren’t inflammatory but small-particles are, because they can get stuck in the arteries and cause problems.
Cardiologist Stephen Sinatra, author of The Great Cholesterol Myth, is among a growing number of doctors who point the finger at inflammation, which is caused by a number of factors; too much sugar tops the list. “Cholesterol is found at the scene of the crime for heart disease, but it’s not the perpetrator,” Dr. Sinatra argues. “Cholesterol many times can be a gift in disguise.”
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