The big fat lies about cholesterol

Did you know that September is National Cholesterol Education Month? And instead of harping on those big fat claims that “high levels of cholesterol significantly increase the risk of heart disease,” the Weston A. Price Foundation, a nonprofit nutrition education organization, enjoins everyone to celebrate the month by learning about the vital roles of cholesterol in the body and by embracing nutrient-dense, cholesterol-rich foods. Yes, you read that right, embrace cholesterol.

Says Sally Fallon Morell, president of the Weston A. Price Foundation, “Cholesterol is deemed a deadly poison. Most people are afraid of eating foods containing cholesterol and of receiving a diagnosis of ‘high’ cholesterol. Yet, having adequate cholesterol levels in the body is key to good health. The notion that cholesterol is a villain in the diet is a myth, based on flimsy evidence and opposed by many honest scientists, including prominent lipids researcher, Dr. Mary Enig. But this theory was promoted by the food processing industry to demonize animal fats, which are competitors to vegetable oils and by the pharmaceutical industry to create a market for the sales of cholesterol-lowering drugs.”

Here’s separating fat from fiction: Cholesterol is an important building block of the cell, providing structure and impermeability to the cell membrane, making it waterproof. Fallon stresses, “Without adequate cholesterol in the cell membrane, our cells become ‘leaky’ and cannot function properly. In addition, many important substances are made out of cholesterol, including stress hormones like cortisol, sex hormones like estrogen and testosterone, the bile salts for digesting fats, and vitamin D.”

Here’s food for thought: Cholesterol is vital to proper neurological function, playing a key role in the formation of memory and the uptake of hormones in the brain, including serotonin, the body’s feel-good chemical. When cholesterol levels drop too low, the serotonin receptors cannot work, leading to depression and anti-social behavior. Cholesterol is a major component of the brain, much of it in the myelin sheaths that insulate nerve cells and in the synapses that transmit nerve impulses.

Fallon notes with alarm that reduced cholesterol is associated with numerous health problems, such as depression, cognitive impairment, amnesia, cancer, muscle pain, weakness, and neuropathy. Fallon elaborates, “The all-cause death rate is higher in those with cholesterol under 180 mg/dl, yet this is the level the medical profession urges us to meet. People with low cholesterol levels have more deaths from cancer, stroke, intestinal diseases, accidents, and suicide.  And having low cholesterol does not necessarily protect against heart disease — many people with low cholesterol suffer heart attacks.”

Sally Fallon, journalist/chef/nutrition researcher/community activist, picks up where Weston Price left off. Girdling the globe, Price studied the healthy indigenous populations and their diets. He was amazed at the superb physique of isolated groups that consumed only whole natural foods containing good quality animal fat. Fallon applied this in feeding her own children and proved to herself that a diet rich in animal fats with the protective factors of old-fashioned foodstuffs like cod liver oil, liver, and eggs resulted in cheerful children with naturally straight teeth and high immunity to illness.

Fallon is the author of Nourishing Traditions, the book that changed the face of fat by challenging politically correct nutrition and the diet dictocrats, and sending out this big, fat message: Animal fats and cholesterol are not villains but vital factors in the diet necessary for normal growth, proper function of the brain and nervous system, protection against disease, and optimum energy levels.

And now, National Cholesterol Education Month zeroes in on cholesterol lowering in the elderly. But a 2001 report from the Honolulu Heart Study, published in the Lancet  found  “increased mortality in elderly people with low serum cholesterol. . . (and that) long-term persistence of low cholesterol concentration actually increases risk of death.”

Corroborating studies indicate that high cholesterol levels in the elderly are associated with a longer lifespan, partly because cholesterol protects against infectious diseases like pneumonia and influenza.

But being a concerned mom, Fallon’s greatest concern is the effect of cholesterol fear-mongering on growing children. She notes, “Cholesterol is vital for normal growth and development of the nervous system. Pregnant and nursing women and growing children need cholesterol-rich foods like whole milk, butter, egg yolks, and liver to ensure optimal development. Children are being denied these foods on the spurious claim that they will cause obesity and heart disease later in life. The result is an epidemic of learning disabilities and growth problems and, later in life, the specter of infertility and chronic disease.”

Thus, the Weston Price Foundation admonishes parents to learn the other side of the story by fattening up on the benefits of a cholesterol-rich diet and feeding their children nutrient-dense foods like cheese, eggs, bacon, and meat to protect them from disease.

Is cholesterol a culprit? Fat chance! –Ching M. Alano (The Philippine Star)  

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