Diet has little to do with your blood cholesterol by Uffe Ravnskov, MD PhD

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Tuesday, September 06, 2011 10:04 am Email this article
A reduction of animal fat and an increase of vegetable fat in the diet is said to lower the blood cholesterol. This is correct, but the effect of such dietary changes is very small. Ramsay and Jackson (37) reviewed 16 trials using diet as intervention. They concluded that the so-called step-I diet, which is similar to the dietary advices that are given nationwise by the health authorities in many countries, lower the serum cholesterol by 0 to 4% only. There are more effective diets, but they are unpalatable to most people.

[This article was written by Uffe Ravnskov, MD PhD, and is an excerpt from his book The Cholesterol Myths: Exposing the Fallacy That Saturated Fat and Cholesterol Cause Heart Disease.]

[Note: The book Fat and Cholesterol are Good for You is a shortened, simplified and updated version of Dr. Ravnskov's first book, "The Cholesterol Myths".] Animal fat does not necessarily raises blood cholesterol

Enormous amounts of animal fat does not necessarily raises blood cholesterol

Studies of African tribes have shown that intakes of enormous amounts of animal fat does not necessarily raise blood cholesterol; on the contrary it may be very low.

 

Samburu people eat twice as much animal fat as Americans

Samburu people eat twice as much animal fat as Americans, and yet their cholesterol is lower, about 170 mg/dl

Samburu people, for instance, eat about a pound of meat and drink almost two gallons of raw milk each day during most of the year. Milk from the African Zebu cattle is much fatter than cow’s milk, which means that the Samburus consume more than twice the amount of animal fat than the average American, and yet their cholesterol is much lower, about 170 mg/dl (38).

 

Masai people in Kenya eat large amount of meat and milk

Masai people people have some of the lowest blood cholesterol levels ever measure, about half that of Americans

According to the view of the Masai people in Kenya, vegetables and fibers are food for cows. They themselves drink half a gallon of Zebu milk each day and their parties are sheer orgies of meat. On such occasions several pounds of meat per person is not unusual. In spite of that the cholesterol of the Masai tribesmen is among the lowest ever measured in the world, about fifty percent of the value of the average American (39).

 

Shepherds in Somalia eat almost nothing but camel’s milk

Shepherds in Somalia have blood cholesterol levels of only 150 mg/dl

Shepherds in Somalia eat almost nothing but milk from their camels. About a gallon and a half a day is normal, which amounts to almost one pound of butter fat, because camel’s milk is much fatter than cow’s milk. But although more than sixty percent of their energy consumption comes from animal fat, their mean cholesterol is only about 150 mg/dl, far lower than in most Western people (40).

 

Masai tribesmen living in the city eating less animal fat had HIGHER cholesterol levels

Cholesterol levels of Masai tribesmen living in the city who ate less animal fat had cholesterol levels that were 25% HIGHER than their cattle-breeding colleagues in the countryside

Proponents of the diet-heart idea say that these African tribesmen are accustomed to their diet and that their organisms have inherited a cleverness to metabolize cholesterol. However, a study of Masai people who had lived for a long time in the Nairobi metropolis showed this to be wrong (41). If the low cholesterol of the Masai tribesmen was inherited it should have been even lower in Nairobi, because here their diet with all certainty included less animal fat than the diet of the Masai tribesmen. But the mean cholesterol level in twenty six males in Nairobi was twenty-five percent higher than that of their cattle-breeding colleagues in the countryside.

 

No connection between diet and cholesterol levels

People eating what they want show no connection between diet and cholesterol levels

And there is more evidence. Although it is possible to change blood cholesterol a little in laboratory experiments and clinical trials by dieting, it is impossible to find any relationship between the make up of the diet and the blood cholesterol of individuals who are not participating in a medical experiment. In other words, individuals who live as usual and eat their food without listening to doctors or dieticians show no connection between what they eat and the level of their blood cholesterol.

If the diet-heart idea were correct individuals who eat great amounts of animal fat would have higher cholesterol than those who eat small amounts; and individuals who eat small amounts of vegetable fat should have higher cholesterol than those who eat great amounts. If not, there is no reason to meddle with people’s diet.

 

No connection between diet and cholesterol levels according to Framingham Study analysis

No connection between diet and cholesterol levels according to Framingham Study analysis, but the results were NEVER PUBLISHED

In the early 1950’s the Framingham study included dietary analysis. Almost one thousand individuals were questioned in detail about their eating habits. No connection was found between the composition of the food and the cholesterol level of the blood. Wrote Drs. William Kannel and Tavia Gordon, authors of the report: ”These findings suggest a cautionary note with respect to hypotheses relating diet to serum cholesterol levels. There is a considerable range of serum cholesterol levels within the Framingham Study Group. Something explains this inter-individual variation, but it is not diet.” For unknown reasons, their results were never published. The manuscript is still lying in a basement in Washington.

 

No connection between saturated fat and cholesterol levels according to a study from Tecumseh, Michigan

No connection between saturated fat or any other part of the diet and cholesterol levels according to a study from Tecumseh, Michigan

In a small American town called Tecumseh, Michigan a similar study was performed by a team of researchers from the University of Michigan headed by Dr. Allen Nichols (42). Experienced dieticians asked in great detail more than two thousand individuals what they had eaten during a twenty-four hour period. The dieticians also asked about the ingredients of the food, analysed the recipies of home-cooked dishes, and exerted great care to find out what kind of fat was used in the kitchen. Calculations were then performed using an elaborate list of the composition of almost 3000 American food items. Finally the participants were divided into three groups, a high, a middle, and a low level group, according to their blood cholesterol.

No difference was found between the amounts of any food item in the three groups; of special interest was that those with a low blood cholesterol ate just as much saturated fat as did those with a high cholesterol.

 

No connection between diet and cholesterol levels in children

No connection between diet and cholesterol levels in children according to two studies

These studies concerned adults, but no association has been found in children either. At the famous Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, for instance, Dr. William Weidman and his team analyzed the diet of about one hundred school children (43). Great differences were found between the amount of various food items eaten by these children, and also great differences between their blood cholesterol values, but there wasn´t the slightest connection between the two. The children who ate lots of animal fat had just as much or just as little cholesterol in their blood as the children who ate very little animal fat. A similar investigation of 185 children was performed in New Orleans with the same result (44).

Is it really wise to meddle with people’s dietary habits if their food has no influence on their cholesterol? And how do those who believe that fat food is dangerous explain all these negative results?

 

Common objections

The common objection is that information about dietary habits is inaccurate

The most common objection says that information about dietary habits is inaccurate, and it is. But even if it is uncertain what people say they ate yesterday, a crude relationship should appear if a sufficiently large number of individuals were questioned meticulously. If not, the influence of the diet, if any, is so minute that it cannot possibly have any importance.

Diet-heart supporters also argue that most people in Western communities already eat great amounts of fat and cholesterol. This argument declares that we have already crossed a threshold of too much animal fat in the diet so that more fat does not make any impact on our blood cholesterol.

The argument is in conflict with the studies I have mentioned above. For instance, astonished by their negative results Dr. Nichols and his team from Michigan (42) tried to find explanations. But they did not find that all individuals ate much fat. Wrote the authors: ”The distribution of daily intake of total fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol by the individuals in this study was quite broad”.

 

National Cholesterol Education Program’s (NCEP) Recommendation on Saturated Fat

National Cholesterol Education Program’s (NCEP) Recommendation on Saturated Fat is NOT supported by the data

Consider now that it is the goal of the National Cholesterol Education Program to lower the intake of animal fat of all Americans to about ten per cent of their caloric intake. Almost fifteen per cent of the Tecumseh participants (42) already ate that little animal fat, and yet it was impossible to see a difference between the cholesterol of those who ate that little and of those who ate much more. Does it make sense to recommend this drastic reduction of animal fat intake if the cholesterol of those who already eat that little is just as high as the cholesterol of the others?

In the study from the Mayo Clinic (43) there was also a wide range of fat intake. The lowest intake of animal fat was 15 grams per day (less than 10 per cent of the caloric intake); the highest was 60 grams per day. In the Bogalusa study, the range was still broader. The lowest intake of all fats (no information was given about the range of intake of animal fat) was 17 grams per day, the highest 325 grams per day.

In Jerusalem a team of researchers, led by Dr. Harold Kahn studied the diet and blood cholesterol of ten thousand male Israeli civil servants. The dietary habits varied considerably between people coming from Israel, Eastern Europe, Central Europe, Southern Europe, Asia and Africa. The intake of animal fat varied from ten grams up to two hundred grams daily, and there were also considerable differences between their cholesterol values (47).

If the intake of animal fat were of major importance for the cholesterol level in the blood it should be possible to find some kind of relationship from a study of so many individuals with such great variations in blood cholesterol and dietary habits. But there was no relation in this Israeli study either. Extremely low cholesterol values were seen both in those who ate little and in those who ate the most animal fat, and high cholesterol values were seen at all levels of animal fat intake.

The scientists from Israel also studied the value of various ways of dietary questioning. Many studies have recorded the diet of a 24 hour period only. Even if this information were accurate it may not be representative of the diet for the rest of the year, far less for a whole life time. The Israeli scientists found that the best information came from a questioning over several days in different seasons of the year, the method used in the study of the bank staff members. Using this expensive and time-consuming method in a smaller study of sixty-two individuals they could not find a correlation either; the correlation coefficient between animal fat intake and blood cholesterol was zero point zero (48).

————-

Note: This article was published with Uffe Ravnskov’s approval.

It is posted on his website here

————-

 

Other Articles by Uffe

Other articles by Uffe Ravnskov

Here are other articles by Uffe.

• Diet has never been shown to reduce cardiovascular disease or death noted Uffe Ravnskov, MD, PhD
• Cholesterol-lowering May Shorten Your Life by Uffe Ravnskov, MD PhD
• Lowering cholesterol by diet or drugs has not been shown to extend lifespan, Edward R. Pinckney, MD
• Diet is NOT an effective way to prevent coronary heart disease said George Mann, ScD, MD
• Warning against cholesterol-lowering in the general population, Michael F. Oliver, MD
• ‘The idea that saturated fats cause heart disease is completely wrong’ says biochemist Mary Enig
• Your cholesterol tells very little about your future health by Uffe Ravnskov, MD PhD
• Diet has little to do with your blood cholesterol by Uffe Ravnskov, MD PhD

————-

 

About the Author

About Uffe Ravnskov, MD PhD

Uffe Ravnskov, MD PhD is an independent investigator, and the President of The International Network of Cholesterol Skeptics (http://www.THINCS.org).

He is also the author of several books, including:

Fat and Cholesterol are Good for You (2009)

Ignore the Awkward : How the Cholesterol Myths Are Kept Alive (2010)

The Cholesterol Myths: Exposing the Fallacy That Saturated Fat and Cholesterol Cause Heart Disease (2002)

Note: His book “Fat and Cholesterol are good for you is a shortened, simplified and updated version of his first book, “The Cholesterol Myths”.

 

Contact Info

Contact Info for Uffe Ravnskov, MD PhD

Uffe Ravnskov, MD, PhD, independent investigator
President of THINCS, The International Network of Cholesterol Skeptics
Magle Stora Kyrkogata 9, 22350 Lund, Sweden

tel +46 46145022 or +46-702580416
http://www.ravnskov.nu/uffe
http://www.thincs.org/

Email:  .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

 

More about the Author

More about Uffe Ravnskov, MD PhD

Here is his biography from Amazon.com.

“Uffe Ravnskov was born 1934 in Copenhagen, Denmark. He graduated in 1961 from the University of Copenhagen with an M.D, but has worked most of his time as a clinician and a researcher in Sweden, where he got his PhD from the University of Lund.

“He has published more than 100 papers and letters critical of the cholesterol campaign; most of them in major medical journals. Honoured by the Skrabanek Award 1999 given by Trinity College of Dublin, Ireland for original contributions in the field of medical skepticism, and by the 2007 Leo-Huss-Walin Prize for Independent Thinking in Natural Sciences And Medicine.

“He is a member of the editorial board of two medical journals and is the creator and spokesman of THINCS, The International Network of Cholesterol Skeptics (http://www.thincs.org), an organization that includes more than 100 researchers and other university graduates from all over the world.

“More details about Uffe Ravnskov are available on http://www.ravnskov.nu/uffe”

 

About the Author on Wikipedia

About Uffe Ravnskov, MD PhD on Wikipedia

You can read more about him on Wikipedia here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uffe_Ravnskov

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Articles on the same subject can be found here:

• Cholesterol Hypothesis Skeptics

• Cholesterol Myths

• Doctor - Uffe Ravnskov, MD PhD