Posted on 04/10/2025 7:33:05 PM PDT by ConservativeMind
A study challenges the long-held belief that high cholesterol correlates and even directly causes coronary artery disease, or plaque buildup in the arteries in metabolically healthy individuals.
The study recruited 100 metabolically healthy individuals following a long-term low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet who developed elevated levels of LDL cholesterol–dubbed Lean Mass Hyper-Responders (LMHRs). The researchers found that traditional cholesterol markers (ApoB and LDL-C) were not associated with baseline heart disease or progression in this population, calling for investments in further research and personalized treatment strategies.
The prevailing theory of cardiovascular disease risk is the lipid hypothesis, which posits that elevations in apolipoprotein B (ApoB) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) are significant risk factors that should be primary treatment targets. However, this new research questions the relevance of the lipid hypothesis in metabolically healthy individuals whose cholesterol levels rise in response to a low-carb ketogenic diet–often adopted to address significant mental or physical health challenges.
The study investigated the relationship between LDL-C, ApoB, and heart plaque progression in a subpopulation of people who adopt low carbohydrate diets and fit the LMHR phenotype. This unique metabolic profile includes elevated LDL-C and ApoB levels despite otherwise healthy metabolic marker levels including low triglycerides, high HDL, low blood pressure, low insulin resistance, and low body mass index.
The researchers found no association between plaque progression and total exposure to, changes in, or baseline levels of ApoB and LDL-C. Rather, baseline plaque burden was identified as the strongest predictor of future plaque progression. These findings suggest that high cholesterol is not always a marker of cardiovascular plaque progression and that individuals with the LMHR phenotype may benefit from cardiac imaging to further assess their cardiovascular risk.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
“This unique metabolic profile includes elevated LDL-C and ApoB levels despite otherwise healthy metabolic marker levels including low triglycerides, high HDL, low blood pressure, low insulin resistance, and low body mass index.”
3 out of five ain’t to bad …
My LDL is above 400 since eating carnivore. I have all the markers of an hyperresponder and fitter at 55 than in my 30s.
But according to the doctors aka drug dealers, I should be dead or put on “cholesterol drugs” for the rest of my life.
SCIENCE!
Ya don't say. /s
These findings suggest that high cholesterol is not always a marker of cardiovascular plaque progression and that individuals with the LMHR phenotype may benefit from cardiac imaging to further assess their cardiovascular risk.
There ya go, that institutional arrogance.
Bfl
Bkmk
Before they starting medicalizing it, 400 was considered a perfectly fine cholesterol level.
The cholesterol scare is an especially egregious Big Lie.
Avoiding dietary cholesterol is actually BAD for your health. In fact, in the absence of dietary cholesterol, your body will produce cholesterol on its own because your body NEEDS cholesterol to survive. And that cholesterol will not necessarily be the healthy kind.
One should get plenty of eggs, butter, cheeses, red meats and offal from meats (such as liver) into their diets and not worry at all about the cholesterol levels in those foods.
The only time food cholesterol shows up as higher blood cholesterol appears to be when you eat a lot of cholesterol in one meal. Our bodies need the cholesterol 24 hours a day, so it prefers a moderate trickle.
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