Cholesterol: The Myth That Won't Die

Your doctor tells you your cholesterol is high. You need to start a statin immediately or you'll have a heart attack.

You're scared. You comply. You take the medication.

Your cholesterol drops. You feel terrible. Brain fog, muscle pain, fatigue.

But hey, at least your cholesterol is lower, right?

Here's what your doctor didn't tell you: the entire cholesterol-heart disease hypothesis is one of the biggest medical frauds of the last 70 years.

Cholesterol doesn't cause heart disease. It never did.

And the evidence proving this has existed for decades.

The Lie You've Been Told

The story goes like this:

You eat saturated fat and cholesterol. It raises your blood cholesterol. High cholesterol clogs your arteries. Clogged arteries cause heart attacks.

Therefore: Lower cholesterol = prevent heart disease.

Simple. Linear. Logical.

And completely wrong.

This is the lipid hypothesis. Proposed in the 1950s by researcher Ancel Keys, it became medical dogma despite never being proven.

Keys cherry-picked data from seven countries to show a correlation between saturated fat intake and heart disease. He ignored data from 15 other countries that contradicted his hypothesis.

When you include all the data, the correlation disappears.

But the lipid hypothesis launched anyway. Why? Because it was profitable.

The Sugar Industry's Dirty Secret

In 2016, researchers uncovered internal sugar industry documents revealing a massive cover-up.

In the 1960s, the sugar industry quietly paid scientists to shift blame away from sugar and point the finger at fat instead.

The Sugar Research Foundation (now the Sugar Association) paid Harvard researchers to publish a review that downplayed sugar's role in heart disease and blamed saturated fat and cholesterol.

This wasn't science. This was marketing.

The food industry could sell low-fat products loaded with sugar. The pharmaceutical industry could sell cholesterol-lowering drugs. Everyone made money.

Everyone except patients, who were told to fear a molecule their bodies desperately need to survive.

What Cholesterol Actually Does

Your body produces cholesterol. About 75% of your cholesterol comes from your liver, not your diet.

Why would your body manufacture something that kills you?

It doesn't. Cholesterol is essential for life.

Cholesterol's Critical Functions:

1. Builds Every Cell Membrane

Every cell in your body is wrapped in a membrane made partly from cholesterol. Without adequate cholesterol, your cells can't maintain their structure.

Low cholesterol = weak, dysfunctional cells.

2. Produces All Your Steroid Hormones

Cholesterol is the precursor molecule for:

• Testosterone
• Estrogen
• Progesterone
• Cortisol
• Aldosterone
• DHEA

No cholesterol = no hormones.

This is why statins (cholesterol-lowering drugs) cause low testosterone, erectile dysfunction, fatigue, and hormonal dysfunction.

You're literally blocking the raw material your body uses to make hormones.

3. Creates Vitamin D

Your skin uses cholesterol to produce vitamin D when exposed to sunlight.

Low cholesterol = impaired vitamin D production = weakened immune system, bone problems, mood disorders.

4. Makes Bile Acids for Digestion

Your liver converts cholesterol into bile acids, which are essential for digesting fats and absorbing fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K).

No cholesterol = poor fat digestion = nutrient deficiencies.

5. Protects Your Brain

Your brain contains 25% of your body's total cholesterol despite being only 2% of your body weight.

Cholesterol insulates nerve cells, supports neurotransmitter function, and maintains brain structure.

This is why low cholesterol is associated with:

• Depression
• Cognitive decline
• Memory problems
• Increased risk of dementia
• Higher suicide rates

6. Supports Immune Function

Cholesterol binds to bacterial toxins and helps neutralize them. It's part of your immune system's inflammatory response.

When you get sick or injured, cholesterol levels often rise. This is protective, not pathological.

The Cholesterol Myths Debunked

In his groundbreaking book "The Cholesterol Myths," Swedish physician Uffe Ravnskov systematically dismantled the cholesterol-heart disease hypothesis. Here's what the evidence actually shows:

Myth #1: Lowering Cholesterol Lengthens Life

Ravnskov reviewed numerous studies on cholesterol-lowering drugs and found they fail to reduce overall mortality. In many cases, lowering cholesterol actually increased death rates from other causes.

People with low cholesterol die at higher rates from:

• Cancer
• Stroke
• Depression and suicide
• Cognitive decline
• Infectious disease

Forcing cholesterol lower doesn't make you live longer. It just changes how you die.

Myth #2: High-Fat Foods Cause Heart Disease

Ravnskov found no definitive evidence that dietary animal fat promotes atherosclerosis or heart attacks.

The French eat more saturated fat and cholesterol than Americans. They have lower rates of heart disease. This is the "French Paradox" that shouldn't exist if the lipid hypothesis were true.

Post-menopausal women with higher cholesterol live longer than those with low cholesterol. Yet doctors prescribe statins to millions of women based on cholesterol numbers alone.

Myth #3: High Cholesterol Causes Heart Disease

Here's the most damning evidence: Ravnskov showed that people with low blood cholesterol become just as atherosclerotic as those with high cholesterol.

Half of all heart attack victims have normal or low cholesterol.

If high cholesterol caused heart disease, this would be impossible.

If Cholesterol Doesn't Cause Heart Disease, What Does?

Inflammation and arterial damage.

Here's what actually happens:

Step 1: Arterial Damage

Your arterial walls get damaged by:

• Chronic stress and elevated cortisol
• High blood sugar and insulin
• Inflammatory foods (industrial seed oils, sugar, grains)
• Smoking
• High blood pressure
• Oxidative stress
• Elevated homocysteine

Step 2: Cholesterol Responds to Repair Damage

When your arterial walls are damaged, your body sends cholesterol to the site as part of the healing response.

Cholesterol is the fire truck responding to the fire. It didn't start the fire.

Think of it this way: homocysteine (an amino acid byproduct) damages arterial walls. The damage creates inflammation. Cholesterol arrives to patch the damage and put out the inflammatory fire.

Finding cholesterol at the scene of arterial damage and blaming it for causing the damage is like blaming firefighters for starting the fire they're trying to extinguish.

Step 3: Oxidation Creates the Real Problem

LDL cholesterol becomes dangerous only when it's oxidized by free radicals and inflammation.

Normal LDL? Harmless.

Oxidized LDL? This is what causes plaque formation.

What oxidizes LDL?

• Industrial seed oils (canola, soybean, corn, vegetable oil)
• High blood sugar
• Chronic inflammation
• Smoking
• Lack of antioxidants

Step 4: Plaque Formation

Oxidized LDL gets stuck in the damaged arterial wall. Your immune system tries to clean it up. The area becomes inflamed. Plaque forms.

Cholesterol is present because it's trying to repair damage. It's not causing the damage.

The Real Markers of Heart Disease Risk:

• CRP (C-reactive protein) - measures inflammation
• Homocysteine - elevated indicates arterial damage and methylation problems
• Lp(a) - genetic marker for cardiovascular risk
• Triglycerides - high levels indicate metabolic dysfunction
• Triglyceride:HDL ratio - best predictor of heart disease risk (should be under 2:1)
• Fasting insulin - high insulin drives inflammation and metabolic disease

Notice what's missing from this list? Total cholesterol.

Because it doesn't matter.

A Real-World Example: The Carnivore Experiment

Here's what happens when you remove inflammatory foods and support your body's natural healing mechanisms.

I spent 30 days eating nothing but red meat from ruminant animals (beef, lamb, bison). During this time, I also took Cardio Lipid supplement from Biotics Research to support cardiovascular function.

The results:

Cholesterol dropped from 230 to 198.

How is this possible if eating animal fat raises cholesterol?

Because when you remove the inflammatory triggers (seed oils, sugar, grains), your body stops producing excess cholesterol for repair. Inflammation goes down. Cholesterol normalizes.

Your liver produces 75% of your cholesterol based on what your body needs. When inflammation drops, the need for cholesterol drops.

This is just one example. I'm not telling you this is what everyone should do. I'm showing you what happens when you address root causes instead of suppressing symptoms with medication.

Remove inflammation. Support natural healing. Watch your body regulate itself.

Why The Myth Persists

Money.

Statin drugs are a $30+ billion per year industry.

Pharmaceutical companies fund medical research, medical schools, and continuing education for doctors.

Low-fat, high-carb processed foods are a multi-billion dollar industry.

When that much money is at stake, challenging the dogma becomes career suicide for researchers and physicians.

Add to this:

• Medical guidelines written by people with financial ties to pharmaceutical companies
• Insurance companies that won't reimburse for alternative testing (particle size, inflammation markers)
• A food pyramid designed to sell grain products, not optimize health
• Doctors trained to prescribe drugs, not address root causes

The lipid hypothesis became too big to fail.

Admitting it was wrong would mean:

• Billions in lost pharmaceutical revenue
• Lawsuits from patients harmed by statins
• Acknowledging that medical authorities were catastrophically wrong for 70 years

So the lie continues. And patients suffer.

What To Do Instead

1. Stop Fearing Cholesterol

Dietary cholesterol has minimal impact on blood cholesterol. Your liver regulates production based on what your body needs.

Eat eggs, butter, red meat, organ meats. These are nutrient-dense foods your body needs.

2. Focus on Inflammation

Reduce inflammatory triggers:

• Remove industrial seed oils (canola, soybean, corn, vegetable oil)
• Eliminate sugar and refined carbohydrates
• Remove inflammatory grains
• Manage stress
• Get adequate sleep
• Stay hydrated

For comprehensive nutrition strategies that support heart health, visit the Fuel Your Body pillar page.

3. Test Markers That Actually Matter

Ask your doctor to test:

• hs-CRP (high-sensitivity C-reactive protein)
• Homocysteine
• Fasting insulin
• Triglycerides
• HDL
• Triglyceride:HDL ratio
• Lp(a)
• LDL particle size (not just LDL-C)

For more on why standard testing misses the real problems, see: What Your Cholesterol Numbers Actually Mean (upcoming post)

4. Consider The Statin Question Carefully

If you're on a statin, understand what it's doing to your body:

• Blocking CoQ10 production (this CAUSES heart problems)
• Depleting hormones
• Causing muscle damage
• Impairing brain function
• Potentially increasing cancer risk

For a deep dive on this, see: Statins: The CoQ10 Theft (upcoming post)

5. Eat Real Food

Follow principles from the Weston A. Price Foundation:

• Animal fats are not the enemy
• Grass-fed meat, wild fish, pastured eggs
• Organ meats (the most nutrient-dense foods on earth)
• Fermented foods
• Bone broth
• Quality dairy (if tolerated)

Avoid:

• Industrial seed oils
• Processed foods
• Sugar and refined carbohydrates
• Trans fats (still hiding in processed foods)

For more on heart-healthy eating, visit the Fuel Your Body pillar page.

The Bottom Line

Cholesterol is essential for life. Your body needs it to build cells, make hormones, support brain function, and repair damage.

The idea that cholesterol causes heart disease is a myth. It was never proven. The sugar industry paid researchers to shift blame from sugar to fat. The evidence against the lipid hypothesis has existed for decades.

Heart disease is caused by inflammation and arterial damage, not cholesterol.

Inflammation comes from chronic stress, blood sugar dysfunction, inflammatory foods (especially industrial seed oils), elevated homocysteine, and oxidative damage.

Cholesterol shows up at the scene because it's trying to heal the damage. Blaming cholesterol for heart disease is like blaming firefighters for starting fires.

Address the root causes. Remove inflammatory triggers. Support your body's natural healing mechanisms.

Stop fearing cholesterol. Start addressing inflammation.

Your body will thank you.

Ready to optimize your health and performance? Dr. JJ Gregor uses Applied Kinesiology and functional health approaches to help patients achieve their wellness goals at his Frisco, Texas practice. Schedule a consultation to discover how nutrition, stress management, and lifestyle optimization can support your overall health.