Originally Posted by agarose2000

Hate to break it to most of the hi-cholesterol believers, but as far the medical institution is concerned, high cholesterol has shown to correlate extremely well with worsened heart disease. True, we haven't done causational experiments (would probably be unethical in humans), but if you're going to go against this thought of cholesterol=increased heart disease risk, you're going against the accepted national guidelines of the internal medical association.

It is true that people can grab small articles from this and that journal to prove otherwise, but the bulk of evidence as reviewed by a consortium of MDs around the nation over several years have come to the conclusion thus far that lowering cholesterol is probably one of the most effective means of reducing heart disease risk, even if it means starting a statin drug agent at an early age. It's what they teach in medical school, and they even test you multiple times with specific questions on current medical board exams to make sure that new doctors are up-to-date with current guidelines.

If you have any doubts to this whatsoever, call your local internal medicine doctor and ask him what the guidelines are for cholesterol and statin use. I have no doubt that some people have better "genetics" and thus may be fine with higher cholesterols, but for the vast majority of folks out there, lower your cholesterol.


And also, by the way, large statin studies have shown a real, but very small risk of liver toxicity, estimated to be less than 1 in 7000 users. Usually these manifest with elevated liver enzymes; if you're one of the unlucky few, no statins for you. However, for the VAST majority of users, it is also common belief that the benefit of lowering your cholesterol significantly with a statin far outweighs this risk for most people.