Cognitive dissonance is a psychological phenomenon that occurs when a person holds two contradictory beliefs at the same time. The psychologist Leon Festinger came up with the concept in 1957. Festinger believed that all people are motivated to avoid or resolve cognitive dissonance due to the discomfort it causes, and it can prompt people to adopt certain defense mechanisms when they have to confront it—namely, avoidance, delegitimizing, and limiting the impact. The last thing people seem to want to do is confront the conflicting ideas and change their beliefs. Sadly, scientists are not immune to this phenomenon. Today I am going to present some recent studies that are generating cognitive dissonance even though they do a better job of explaining phenomena related to cholesterol levels than the traditional theories.
Read MoreDr. Matthew Budoff presented data on December 9, 2023, demonstrating that a subgroup of individuals with very high total cholesterol and LDL do not seem to develop heart disease. The subjects are known as "Lean Mass Hyper Responders." The group became notable during the rise in popularity of ketogenic diets. This post will cover what a ketogenic diet is, what a lean mass hyper responder is, the possible mechanism of why they seem to be immune to heart disease, and the study itself.
Read MoreAfter repeated conversations with me, a close relative in his late 50s decided to try the carnivore diet. He immediately began to feel better than he had ever felt. The carnivore diet is ultra-low-carb, similar to the ketogenic diet, which often raises LDL and total cholesterol. He has lost 22 pounds, lowered his BMI from 25.8 (overweight) to 22.8 (normal), lowered his blood pressure from 110/70 to 100/66, has more energy, lowered his triglycerides from 106 to 71 (lower is better), raised his HDL from 47 to 79 (higher is better), lowered his VLDL by 1/3, rid himself of chronic foot and hip pain, and he has no more leg cramping. As we will see later in this post, these changes indicate inflammatory, metabolic, and cardiovascular health improvements.
At the same time, he raised his LDL from 69 to 192 and his total cholesterol from 137 to 285, which made his doctors panic. Later in this post, we will see that LDL levels below 105 cause twice the amount of death. Despite this, his doctors have ignored nine positive changes and stressed two that, as we will see in this post, have little relevance in their ability to predict cardiovascular disease. What kind of a world do we live in when doctors fret when their patients become healthier? Read on if you are curious.
Read MoreThe major precursor of vitamin D is cholesterol. Without cholesterol, we cannot make it. Some people may find this shocking because vitamin D is highly praised, while cholesterol is demonized. Since vitamin D and cholesterol are so closely related, they have an interesting interplay. Statin drugs, which lower cholesterol, also take part in the interplay. The enzyme statins block is active at step two, so we would expect less production of all molecules in the cholesterol pathway, like CoQ10. Statins should block vitamin D production, but they don’t. Statins are supposed to lower your risk of heart disease. But by how much? You may be surprised by the answer. This post will cover the synthesis of cholesterol, vitamin D, and Co Q10 and discuss how statins alter the pathways.
Read MoreA few years back, I wrote about the negative health consequences of visceral fat, which is the kind of fat that surrounds our organs. Too much of it is bad for our health. I spoke about several ways to measure it, but I want to concentrate on one very easy and free method called the waist-to-height ratio. It is a simple and free method you can do at home to determine your health risk. I will tell you why it is so important and tell you how to calculate yours. For the math-challenged, I have a link to an automatic calculator.
Read MoreMany traditional ways of measuring your risk for having a heart attack are not nearly as accurate as many believe. For example, many believe that our total cholesterol and LDL are the best indicators for heart disease, but the association is weak. As far back as 1964, Garrett, Horning, and Creech found no definite correlation between serum cholesterol levels and the nature and extent of atherosclerotic disease. They published their findings in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The famous Framingham heart study concluded in 1977 that HDL was a much better predictor of heart disease than LDL, and total cholesterol was not associated with any risk. In 1997, The Lancet published a paper on the elderly that showed for each 18 mg/dl increase of cholesterol, the chance of death went down by 15%. Amazingly, they also found that mortality from cancer and infection was significantly lower among the participants in the highest total cholesterol category. We believe these readings to be the best way to predict heart disease because we have been told to. Today I will show you some more statistical hocus pocus that helped promote these tests, and tell you about a much more accurate one you should get.
Read MoreHeart disease is the number one killer in America, and LDL cholesterol has gotten most of the blame. But for the last 40 years, researchers have known that oxidized LDL, not LDL, is the true villain implicated in heart disease. Furthermore, only a few randomized controlled trials have ever tested the traditional diet-heart hypothesis that blames saturated fat for heart disease, yet it remains the gospel truth. Ongoing 40-year-old research shows that linoleic acid is the real culprit that causes oxidation of LDL, contributing to atherosclerosis-associated inflammation. Similar research actually shows saturated fat to protect against oxidation. Today I will cover this new research and tell you about a simple way to lower your risk of heart disease.
Read MorePrevalence of metabolic health in American adults is alarmingly low, even in normal weight individuals. The large number of people not achieving optimal levels of risk factors, even in low-risk groups, has serious implications for public health. In this post I discuss the poor state of our health, why it is so bad, and what to do about it.
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