No worries. A couple questions for you.
Do you believe dietary cholesterol raises serum cholesterol?
Does a high serum cholesterol promote heart disease?
I have no comment on either of those. I am only coming from the position that to my knowledge there has been no proven link between dietary fat -- exclude trans fats -- and heart disease. One poorly designed study was used to help demonize fats back in the 60s or 70s so it doesn't count.
To be clear I am not taking a position on whether eating animal products is good or bad for you here. I am only talking about heart disease. If you know some well designed studies with clear conclusions on that matter then please feel free to change my mind.
What are your answers to those questions? Why those specific questions?
First question, yes. Second question, yes. I asked those specific questions because usually when people try to deny the link between saturated fat, cholesterol, and heart disease, they go one of those two routes, if not both.
From here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9006469 400 studies show that saturated fat and cholesterol raise serum cholesterol. From here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16554528 we know that a high LDL per se, that is, independent of everything else, is a risk factor for heart disease.
Thanks for these. The 2nd study was only of black subjects so though interesting it is not conclusive in a larger sense. I know it's fashionable to say we're all the same -- and to be clear I'm not saying that you've attempted to make that claim by referencing this study, rather I'm just making an observation -- but the science is pretty clear that there are differences between races. Do you have any that span race?
Besides I don't think you can say "independent of everything else". We know for example that high HDL mitigates higher levels of LDL. In fact this is my exact situation: I consume various saturated fats like crazy yet my rail thin, super fit doctor is jealous of my cholesterol levels. I'm not suggesting this is proof, but it is a good example I think. Not to mention my wife had high cholesterol that was not responsive to meds, but since switching to a lower carb/higher fat diet her levels have been normal. Was she at greater risk of heart disease before, or after?
My point is not necessarily that animal products consumption is good for you, but rather that it's not a slam dunk that it is bad for you. Many many factors come into play and individual differences make it hard to generalize. Hence I encourage people to enjoy bacon and eggs, eyes open of course but at least not guiltily.
Further comments?
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