Based on research, it’s been known for decades that dietary intake of cholesterol has absolutely nothing to do with serum cholesterol levels. Likewise, saturated fat intake is unrelated to cholesterol levels or heart disease.
Furthermore, cholesterol levels are pretty much unrelated to heart disease anyway. For instance, lowering cholesterol by any drugs except for statins (e.g., Zetia, cholestyramine, etc.) does not reduce CVD risks nor do they improve mortality. (There are FAR better predictors and markers for CVD than cholesterol, with triglyceride levels being one of the biggies.)
This means that whatever it is that statins do, it’s not their cholesterol-lowering function that gives them their putative mortality improvements.
Knowledgeable Cardiologists know this, and the honest ones will tell you that no one really knows why statins appear to work. General speculation is that statins are simply a form of anti-inflammatory drugs.
Nonetheless, I refuse to take them because the side-effects can be horrendous (they are for me), and a major side-effect is the suppression of CoQ10 by the liver, and as it turns out the heart requires more CoQ10 than any other muscle or organ in the body.
Bookmark about cholesterol discussion with hubby for later. Thank-you.