Is Cholesterol the Culprit?

Cholesterol — the story started over 50 years ago. The ads have been relentless. Avoid eggs and butter. Eat margarine. You know the story.

found at the scene of the crime, not guilty

In fact, recent studies are once again showing that eggs aren’t so bad after all. (actually eggs provide a superb source of protein). And even more recently, we are seeing “super eggs” with increased amounts of Vitamin E and high dose DHA for enhanced brain and cardiac function.

So the theory was too simplistic and naive we well know today: The figure below shows that there were an equal number of people who suffered a heart attack as those who did not suffer the same fate with the same cholesterol at all levels.  That is, 50% of all heart attack victims have “normal” cholesterol levels.

fig 1 — Cholesterol is a poor predictor of Heart Disease

Proving the famous Framingham Study did not have the predictive value as you are constantly being told.

What’s going on here?

As with all models of this sort, it turned out to be an incomplete and oversimplified picture. It was also based on the notion that correlation equals causation.  A risky assumption.  More studies and many more risk factors have recently been identified.

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