Challenging the Cholesterol Myth – A New Study on Lean Mass Hyper-Responders and Heart Disease Risk

villain in this ongoing health saga. For decades, the medical community has held firm to the belief that high levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), often dubbed "bad cholesterol," inevitably spell disaster for heart health. But what if this narrative isn't the full story? A groundbreaking new study conducted by a team of innovative researchers is turning this conventional wisdom on its head, particularly for a unique group known as lean mass hyper-responders (LMHRs). I wrote about lean mass hyper-responders in a previous post, which you can read here. Published in April 2025, this research dives into the effects of ketogenic diets on cholesterol and plaque buildup, offering fresh insights that could reshape how we assess cardiovascular risk. THis post will explore these findings and why they matter.

Decoding the Effects of Low-Carbohydrate Diets on Cholesterol in People With Different BMI

On January 17, 2024, a groundbreaking study titled "Increased Low-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol on a Low-Carbohydrate Diet in Adults with Normal but Not High Body Weight: A Meta-Analysis" was published by Adrian Soto-Mota, Dave Feldman, Nicholas Norwitz, and others. This research provides new insights into the effects of low-carbohydrate diets on cholesterol levels, with a particular focus on low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), commonly known as 'bad' cholesterol. In this blog post, I will explain the study's design and results, which refute the current medical thinking that saturated fat has the most significant effect on raising cholesterol. The authors found that body weight is much more significant than saturated fat. Their findings suggest that we have things backward.