The cholesterol lie – scientific confirmations

5.11.2012

Autor: D. Harald Alke

A standpoint, not an encyclopedia entry. A personal placement by D. Harald Alke that refers to public reports and studies. The neutral clarification of the term stands in the encyclopedia entry Cholesterol.

At last! For years I have pointed to what I call the “cholesterol lie”. For me that was at first a gut feeling – and I find my scepticism confirmed by more and more reports and research.

What the WDR reported

The WDR – a German public broadcaster – gave, in its science programme Quarks & Co, a detailed report on the origin and consequences of the cholesterol debate (repeated on 4 Nov 2012). Already in 1956 a US researcher had investigated the connection between high cholesterol and heart attack and – according to this report – found no clear connection, yet nevertheless presented his data as though there were one. According to the WDR, “through numerous research it is … known that there is no simple connection between cholesterol and fat in the food and calcification of the arteries and heart attack”.

According to this report, the body decides largely itself how much cholesterol it builds up; and precisely the fats contained in butter are said to support the immune system. My long-standing recommendation to eat butter without fear I see confirmed by this.

From my view, much insecurity is produced with the cholesterol narrative, from which economic interests profit. That I say as a subjective critique of structures and incentives – not as a blanket reproach to individual doctors.

Further reports and self-experiments

In the years after that, many further contributions came along that show the same direction:

• BBC, Czech Republic (around 2002): a man ate, daily, as much as he could of fatty duck and goose roast. After a week he had lost weight, his cholesterol values had sunk.
• TV report of 17 Apr 2013: complete abstinence from fat can make one fat, because out of frustration one eats more of other things – the body simply needs fat.
• auf einen Blick No. 17 (18 Apr 2013): a group ate 500 g of natural yoghurt daily for three months and gained weight; the comparison group ate the same yoghurt with a little olive oil and held their weight.
• ZDF Neo (a German public broadcaster), “Isst Du gesund?” (Do you eat healthily?, 11 May 2013): a young woman ate four eggs daily for 14 days – her cholesterol values changed practically not at all.
• Deutschlandfunk (a German public radio station, 22 Dec 2009): the all-clear contribution “Keine Angst vorm Weihnachtsbraten” (No fear of the Christmas roast).

Please understand me rightly: it is not about eating as fat as possible, but about the relaxed dealing with fat. That coincides with what I have portrayed for years (see also my Gesundheitslexikon of 2006).

Limit values that write healthy people “sick”

It is reported that in 1990 a conference set the cholesterol limit values: although a Bavarian mass study on 100,000 people had yielded a mean value of around 260 mg/dl, the limit value was set at 200 mg/dl – whereby, at a stroke, many healthy people counted as in need of treatment. Such limit-value settings I see critically; that is my subjective assessment.

Fat is not the same as sick

The WDR report also pointed out that some very athletic people who live emphatically “healthily” nevertheless develop a fatty liver, while many sturdy people are perfectly healthy. In many cultures fullness counts anyway as a sign of strength – in Asia one speaks, of the belly of older men, of the “Chi-Belt”, the power belt. The simple equation “fat = sick” thus falls short.

Butter, oils and pulses

On oils it was reported that expensive vegetable oils are not automatically better – some are stretched, while cheap sunflower and rapeseed oils from the discounter can be pure and high-quality. Whoever likes may test their oils with kinesiology themselves. Your body does not lie!

Whoever lives vegetarian should regularly provide for plant protein – best from pulses (peas, beans, lentils). Whoever avoids them because of possible flatulence forgoes valuable protein; with regular movement or Energy Training one tolerates them mostly well. All the old peoples had suitable vegetable combinations with pulses – Egypt: lentils and chickpeas; the Near East: chickpeas; India: beans; Asia: soy and mung beans; the indigenous peoples of America: kidney beans. Enjoy your meal!

My conclusion

After everything I have collected over the years, I come to the conclusion: the body largely regulates itself how much cholesterol it takes up. Whoever is otherwise healthy and eats a reasonable amount of fat holds, according to these reports, often a better balance. I myself have my blood and enzyme values determined regularly, gladly eat butter and, daily, an egg – and my cholesterol values are exceptionally low. Listen to your belly and eat what does you good. (That is a personal view and replaces no medical advice.)

„Man muß das Wahre immer wiederholen, weil auch der Irrtum um uns her immer wieder gepredigt wird, und zwar nicht von Einzelnen, sondern von der Masse … Überall ist der Irrtum obenauf, und es ist ihm wohl und behaglich im Gefühl der Majorität, die auf seiner Seite ist.“ – Goethe zu Eckermann

(One must always repeat the true, because error, too, is preached around us again and again – and not by individuals, but by the mass … Everywhere error is on top, and it is comfortable in the feeling of the majority on its side. – Goethe to Eckermann)

„Niemand ist mehr Sklave, als der sich für frei hält, ohne es zu sein.“ – Goethe, Maximen und Reflexionen

(No one is more a slave than the one who holds themselves to be free without being so.)

„Der Mensch an sich selbst, sofern er sich seiner gesunden Sinne bedient, ist der größte und genaueste physikalische Apparat, den es geben kann.“ – Goethe, Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre

(The human in themselves, in so far as they use their healthy senses, is the greatest and most exact physical apparatus that there can be.)

„Nur der ist frei, der nicht mehr nach Befreiung verlangt!“ – Yogavasistha

(Only that one is free who no longer craves liberation!)

Note: This article renders a personal, worldview-based view and refers to publicly accessible reports. It is no medical advice and replaces no medical diagnosis or treatment; with health questions please turn to a doctor or pharmacy.