The Real Story on Cholesterol and Heart Disease

Just because cholesterol is part of the plaque that clogs peoples arteries and gives rise to heart disease, doesn't mean that cholesterol is the cause.  Dr. Hugo Rodier, a holistically-minded medical doctor,  compares having high cholesterol to dousing oneself with gasoline.  He asks, “If I douse myself in gasoline, will I burst into flames?”  The answer is, “No.”

Covering yourself in gasoline, while dangerous, isn't enough to set yourself on fire.  You also need a source of fire, a match.  Having high cholesterol, while not necessarily healthy, doesn't mean you're automatically going to have heart disease.  It also takes a “match” to start the problem and that is inflammation.

Inflammation is caused by toxins irritating tissues and results in free radical damage.  Without inflammation, and the resulting free radical damage, your aren't going to develop heart disease, even if you have high cholesterol.

It's part of something called  the Mediterranean paradox.  Mediterranean diets are high in fat and as a result, create higher cholesterol levels.  However, these same people have lower rates of heart disease.  Why?  Because they eat more antioxidant foods like fruits and vegetables.  The Eskimos, who traditionally lived on diets of almost nothing but saturated fat (seal blubber, etc.) also had no incidence of heart disease. 

So, the emphasis on reducing cholesterol levels and avoiding fats as a means of preventing heart disease is largely a misplaced effort. Here's what really happens.

When artery walls become inflamed and suffer from free radical damage, cholesterol comes along to form a “patch” over the afflicted area.  This patch collects calcium and other minerals and may continue to grow over time causing arteriosclerosis.  So, if we really want to stop heart disease at its roots, we need to prevent inflammation and free radical damage.  This involves minimizing exposure to environmental toxins  and obtaining adequate amounts of antioxidant nutrients to reduce inflammation and free radical damage.

High cholesterol, in fact, may simply be a symptom of environmental toxicity.  The body uses cholesterol to sequester and attempt to eliminate a variety of chemical toxins, especially mercury and chemical solvents.  The chlorine that has been added to our drinking water is probably one of the biggest causes of hardening of the arteries because it causes arterial inflammation and changes high density lipoproteins (HDL) to low density lipoproteins (LDL).

Kimberly Balas, ND, who uses nutritional blood chemistry analysis to help people develop natural health and supplement programs suggests that cholesterol can't be considered by itself.  It has to be looked at along with other blood tests and factors so that one can determine why the cholesterol is high and deal with the cause.  Modern medicine's tendency to try to lower cholesterol without considering why the cholesterol is high is just another instance of treating a symptom without addressing the cause.

Basic Blood Chemistry

Lipoproteins are a mixture of triglycerides, phospholipids, cholesterol and protein. They are a by-product of protein metabolism. The body binds fats to proteins to form these compounds (lipid=fats, so these are literally fatty proteins). There are two basic types of lipoproteins—high density lipoproteins (HDL) and low density lipoproteins (LDL).

High density lipoproteins (HDL) are about 50% protein, with the majority of the lipid portion being triglycerides. They are also higher in protein.  Triglycerides are neutral fats composed of three fatty acids and glycerol. They are needed by the body for fuel. HDL is the healthier form of lipoprotein.

Low density lipoproteins (LDL) have a lower triglyceride content and a higher cholesterol content.  They are also lower in protein.  Having a high quantity of LDL and a low quantity of HDL is a good indicator of mercury and solvent toxicity.  The higher the amount of LDL and the lower the amount of HDL the more unhealthy the body is.

These lipoproteins help engulf toxins, so the more toxins you have in your body, the higher the cholesterol and LDL lipoproteins. The body tries to break these toxins down gradually, but if it is unable to do so, it will simply create more cholesterol to engulf them.  Lowering the cholesterol level without ridding the body of the environmental toxins only exposes the body to more inflammation and free radical damage because the body is unable to sequester (or bind) the toxins.

It is also important to look at the ratio of triglycerides to HDL (TG/HDL ratio).   This  ratio is created by dividing the triglyceride level by the HDL level.  After dividing these two numbers, the higher the result,  the greater the risk of heart disease.  A person with a TG/HDL ratio of 7.5 has about eight times the risk of a heart attack as a person with a TG/HDL ratio of 1.4.  So, high triglycerides and low levels of low density lipoproteins (LDL) are  a more important risk factor for heart disease than total cholesterol. 

A high TG/HDL ratio is also a sign suggesting hyperinsulinemia (too much insulin in the blood). High insulin levels create an even greater risk for heart disease than high cholesterol, or high triglycerides and low LDL.  This is because high insulin levels not only increase fat disposition, they also increase inflammation.

Hyperinsulinemia is caused by eating too many simple carbohydrates.  What is interesting is that 20 years ago, when it was believed that fats and dietary cholesterol contributed to heart disease, people were encouraged to eat more carbohydrates, and less fat and meat.  The result—no change in heart disease, but diabetes and obesity rates have doubled.

Let's examine some of the reasons for this.  First, low fat diets increase cholesterol levels in the blood.  Why?   60-80% of the cholesterol in the body is used to make bile salts to digest fats.  That's why eating healthy (monounsaturated) fats like olive oil can actually lower cholesterol levels.  More cholesterol is turned into bile salts to digest the dietary fats, thus lowering cholesterol.

Second, remember that HDL cholesterol is higher in protein and lower in fat.  So, a lack of protein in the diet, and/or poor protein metabolism may also contribute to imbalances in blood chemistry. 

Third, the body turns excess carbohydrates into triglycerides (fats) for storage.  That's why having a lot of triglycerides and low levels of HDL are a sign of hyperinsulinemia.  There are too many carbohydrates in the diet, getting turned into fat, but not enough protein to make more HDL.