I personally don't worry about lipids and believe that the whole cholesterol causes heart disease stuff is complete bunk. Sure, blockages consist of cholesterol - but cholesterol's function in the body (among many things) is to patch up inflammation. They've got cause and effect all bass-ackwards. Sure ... a guy who sits on his ass and smokes all day and has high cholesterol is probably at risk for heart disease - but I think a guy who sits and smokes all day with low cholesterol is just as much at risk.
High density lipoprotein (HDL) is anti-inflammatory. LDL, however, is pro-inflammatory to both endothelial cells (the lining of blood vessels) and the smooth muscle controlling vasoconstriction/relaxation.
Morgantini, C., Natali, A., Boldrini, B., Imaizumi, S., Navab, M., Fogelman, A. M., et al. (2011). Anti-Inflammatory and Antioxidant Properties of HDLs Are Impaired in Type 2 Diabetes. Diabetes. doi: 10.2337/db11-0378.
Gora, S., Maouche, S., Atout, R., Wanherdrick, K., Lambeau, G., Cambien, F., et al. (2010). Phospholipolyzed LDL induces an inflammatory response in endothelial cells through endoplasmic reticulum stress signaling. The FASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, 24(9), 3284-97. doi: 10.1096/fj.09-146852.
Calvayrac, O., Rodríguez-Calvo, R., Alonso, J., Orbe, J., Martín-Ventura, J. L., Guadall, A., et al. (2011). CCL20 Is Increased in Hypercholesterolemic Subjects and Is Upregulated By LDL in Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells: Role of NF-{kappa}B. Arteriosclerosis, thrombosis, and vascular biology. doi: 10.1161/ATVBAHA.111.235721.
The problem is ... Science is not "exact". Like this crap where you're supposed to have five servings of veggies per day. Well, they did a detailed study in Europe on the efficacy of that and found no appreciable difference in health between the folks who ate those five servings per day and the ones who didn't.
Now ... how do you think the "scientific" community responded to that study?
Why ... they RAISED the recommended servings of veggies from five per day to EIGHT! LOL - good luck with ingesting that much rabbit food!
I dislike what is considered a serving of vegetable and what is not...but we know several things.
1. Vegetables contain a high amount of anti-oxidants and phytonutrients.
2. The western diet is highly acidic and inflammatory, and consuming vegetables is one way to increase alkaline consumption and anti-inflammatory phytonutrients.
3. The bodybuilding community spends countless dollars on useless NO products that for the most part do not increase nitric oxide production or values. Vegetable consumption increases both.
Of course, these things are not seen after acute consumption, but chronically. I'd be interested to see that study.
As far as cholesterol ... I can remember when anything under "200" was good. Now that's been revised ... and you're limited now to "99" for the "bad" cholesterol - which, there is no such thing as "good" and "bad" cholesterol - it's all the same. LDL and HDL are not cholesterols ... they're lipo-proteins that carry cholesterol.
Or, it could be because the scientific community is looking at longitudinal studies and starting to see correlations between values and heart disease incidents. There is a HUGE difference between the functions of LDL and HDL. It all comes down to the oxidation of LDL and its effects on the blood vessel...and endothelial sheer stress (caused by high bp).
Steinberg, D. (2009). The LDL modification hypothesis of atherogenesis: an update. Journal of lipid research, 50 Suppl, S376-81. doi: 10.1194/jlr.R800087-JLR200.
Tada, T., Nawata, J., Wang, H., Onoue, N., Zhulanqiqige, D., Ito, K., et al. (2008). Enhanced pulsatile pressure accelerates vascular smooth muscle migration: implications for atherogenesis of hypertension. Cardiovascular research, 80(3), 346-53. doi: 10.1093/cvr/cvn211.
Back when I worried about my cholesterol - mine was 245.
Now that I don't - it's like 185 but the bastards still tell me it's high because the "bad" stuff is "122" and it can't be any higher than 99. It's a moving target ... LOL
**** them!
Probably because most of the bastards haven't the slightest idea about cholesterol or lipid metabolism, and they go off a BS study from the 1950's.
What's perhaps more important that absolute numbers if the ratio of LDL to HDL, and HDL to total cholesterol.
Lemieux, I., Lamarche, B., Couillard, C., Pascot, A., Cantin, B., Bergeron, J., et al. (n.d.). Total cholesterol/HDL cholesterol ratio vs LDL cholesterol/HDL cholesterol ratio as indices of ischemic heart disease risk in men: the Quebec Cardiovascular Study. Archives of internal medicine, 161(22), 2685-92. Retrieved August 24, 2011, from
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Fernandez, M. L., & Webb, D. (2008). The LDL to HDL cholesterol ratio as a valuable tool to evaluate coronary heart disease risk. Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 27(1), 1-5. Retrieved August 24, 2011, from
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Br