There was a doctor by the name of Ancel Keys that submitted a seven-country research paper showing that the consumption of saturated animal fats was the culprit of high cholesterol, and tied this in with the underlying cause of heart disease.
But there was just one problem…
Dr. Keys’ original study included 22 countries. But when he didn’t get the results he needed to prove his hypothesis, he deceptively cherry-picked six countries that would. And then he added Wales (inside Great Britain) to get to seven. He stated
Japan and Italy, which had less animal fat consumption, had very low rates of heart disease. And Australia, Canada, England, and the U.S. all had higher animal fat consumption, and therefore higher rates of heart disease.
Dr. Keys made the cover of Time magazine in January 1961. And his bogus study set in motion decades of deception, misguidance, and bodily harm.
But several decades later, when careful researchers took a closer look at Keys’ full 22-country study, they discovered its flaws.
Plenty of countries with high animal fat consumption had low heart disease. But by then it was too late.
The pharmaceutical industry had jumped on Dr. Keys’ conclusion to make cholesterol-lowering drugs. And they began pushing statin drugs as an effective way to prevent heart attacks and strokes, even though the actual studies for these drugs demonstrated there were miniscule protective benefits. But they skewed the results from their studies to get FDA approval.
This was an easy sell for a couple of reasons:
First, concentrations of cholesterol were found in arterial plaque. But that’s normal because cholesterol is in every cell of the human body.
Second, most people have cholesterol levels close to 200 or higher. (In fact the healthiest people in the world range between 200 and 250). But the drug company set the 200 mark at being "at risk for heart disease".
Drug companies especially promoted the idea that LDL was the “bad cholesterol.” And yet…
There is no such thing as Good or Bad cholesterol.
Your liver makes both! But that’s Big Pharma’s propaganda. And it’s been regurgitated by the doctors and medical societies that learned it from them, and further by the media that takes advertising money from them.
Both LDL and HDL are lipoproteins that move cholesterol through your bloodstream. This is essential for the good health of your brain, cells, muscles, hormone production, vitamin D production, and the production of bile to emulsify your fats.
These functions are all critical for staying healthy. If you lower your cholesterol, you will eventually cause damage to your body. And yes, you could even die.
But there was just one problem…
Dr. Keys’ original study included 22 countries. But when he didn’t get the results he needed to prove his hypothesis, he deceptively cherry-picked six countries that would. And then he added Wales (inside Great Britain) to get to seven. He stated
Japan and Italy, which had less animal fat consumption, had very low rates of heart disease. And Australia, Canada, England, and the U.S. all had higher animal fat consumption, and therefore higher rates of heart disease.
Dr. Keys made the cover of Time magazine in January 1961. And his bogus study set in motion decades of deception, misguidance, and bodily harm.
But several decades later, when careful researchers took a closer look at Keys’ full 22-country study, they discovered its flaws.
Plenty of countries with high animal fat consumption had low heart disease. But by then it was too late.
The pharmaceutical industry had jumped on Dr. Keys’ conclusion to make cholesterol-lowering drugs. And they began pushing statin drugs as an effective way to prevent heart attacks and strokes, even though the actual studies for these drugs demonstrated there were miniscule protective benefits. But they skewed the results from their studies to get FDA approval.
This was an easy sell for a couple of reasons:
First, concentrations of cholesterol were found in arterial plaque. But that’s normal because cholesterol is in every cell of the human body.
Second, most people have cholesterol levels close to 200 or higher. (In fact the healthiest people in the world range between 200 and 250). But the drug company set the 200 mark at being "at risk for heart disease".
Drug companies especially promoted the idea that LDL was the “bad cholesterol.” And yet…
There is no such thing as Good or Bad cholesterol.
Your liver makes both! But that’s Big Pharma’s propaganda. And it’s been regurgitated by the doctors and medical societies that learned it from them, and further by the media that takes advertising money from them.
Both LDL and HDL are lipoproteins that move cholesterol through your bloodstream. This is essential for the good health of your brain, cells, muscles, hormone production, vitamin D production, and the production of bile to emulsify your fats.
These functions are all critical for staying healthy. If you lower your cholesterol, you will eventually cause damage to your body. And yes, you could even die.