There has been controversy lately whether or not high cholesterol levels can contribute to heart disease.  Although there have not been studies with a large enough sampling size to really show proof one way or another there is an older study which does attribute a high cholesterol level to an increase of heart disease and is the study that remains the strongest for the argument.

In the Spring of 1958,a team of Harvard medical scientists furnished the final, incontrovertible proof that a surplus of cholesterol in the blood stream can, and does, cause coronary disease. Although this is quite a long time ago, the facts remain the same.

The scientists took little bits of blood vessel wall tissue, and kept them alive in a culture medium (which, in a real sense, means an artificial blood). They then began to add tiny drops of cholesterol to the feeding mixture—which, let us remind you again, corresponds to blood. In four or five days, fat deposits formed in the blood vessel cells.

By check-testing, they soon found that the size of the fat deposit in the blood vessel wall was directly proportional to the amount of cholesterol added. If the blood vessel cells were allowed to remain in the cholesterol-fed medium, the fat deposits soon increased to such size that the blood vessel cells finally withered and died.

Mind you, the doctors actually watched cholesterol produce blood vessel disease, but the experiments went much further. They found that satt-rich stearic acid, which occurs in certain animal fats, aided and abetted the formation of fatty deposits and caused them to increase rapidly and markedly in size.

Then the researchers did an even more astonishing thing. They added linolenic acid, a rich, primary source of polys, to the culture medium, and cholesterol as before; but the fat deposits didn’t form! Thus, they proved experimentally, with live human tissue, that the linolenic-acid polys could offset and counteract the effects of cholesterol, and keep it from forming deposits in the blood vessel walls.

The team continued the experiment. Was the action of the linolenic-acid polys more than protective and preventive? Would the polys actually decrease the size of the deposits which had been laid down in blood vessel cells? This is what they found.
Once a deposit of fat had been formed, the more linolenic acid added to the culture medium, the more the size of the deposit decreased. This can also be interpreted in another sense; viz., the more polys in a fat, the better it will work in preventing “The Grease Trap Disease,” and diminishing the size of fat deposits already formed.

However, don’t take this to mean that you can simply swallow linolenic acid, or any other rich source of polys, and magically cure yourself of coronary disease.

Your fat intake still has to be “balanced.” Remember that an excess of any kind of fat droplets in the blood stream can also cause trouble; and remember, too, that the blood becomes sticky and sludgy, and clots more readily, when you eat too much of any kind of fat. So, keep your total fat intake down.

Remember this, also: These experiments were done only with initial fat deposits, newly formed in the blood vessel cells. There had been no chance for the deposit to become “set,” or for secondary changes to occur.

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Are you watching your cholesterol levels?  Concerned about heart disease?

Read any article about high cholesterol these days and you’re likely to find horror stories of how such things will doom you to a future of strokes, heart attacks and other heart disease. But did you know some experts claim the data indicates cholesterol may not be an important factor in the development of heart problems? Experts are in fact torn between these two opposing views about the dangers of high cholesterol.

The Framingham Heart Study claims to show a cause-and-effect relationship between high cholesterol levels and coronary heart disease. This study indicates those with higher levels of blood cholesterol are more likely to develop coronary heart disease (CHD) than those with lower levels.

It shows coronary heart disease is unusual at low cholesterol levels, and therefore claims proof that low cholesterol levels are the key to overall heart health. Another recent series of trials studied the effects of statin drugs (a type of cholesterol-lowering medication) and claimed lowering the total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol reduces the risk of heart attack, angioplasty (a bypass that requires surgery) and death from coronary disease.

But other experts disagree with the findings of the cholesterol-equals-death crowd. Some experts do not see a cause-and-effect relationship between too much cholesterol and heart disease in these studies. These experts go as far as arguing there is no such thing as “bad” cholesterol or “good” cholesterol.

They have observed that mental stress, physical activity and a change of body weight may all influence blood cholesterol levels and conclude that a high cholesterol level is only the reflection of an already unhealthy condition. Cholesterol is seen like a fever: if you remove the flu, then the fever will go away too. Instead of, “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?”  these experts ask, “Which came first, the high cholesterol levels or the poor health?”

Whichever view seems correct to you, it is undisputed these conditions are often present when heart disease is identified:

•    High total cholesterol levels
•    Low HDL (good) cholesterol and high LDL (bad) cholesterol levels
•    Smoking
•    High blood pressure
•    Diabetes
•    Physical inactivity
•    Obesity or excess body fat

Since so much disagreement exists among experts and their interpretation of cholesterol-related studies, the best answer could very well be to stay on the safe side.

If conditions such as hypertension, obesity, high cholesterol and smoking are in fact present in many people with heart disease, it might be wise to remove as many of these factors as possible. Take steps to lower your blood pressure, lose weight, reduce stress and quit smoking, and you’re likely to experience a better life whether high cholesterol has anything to do with it or not.

It could be argued exercise, proper diet, and healthy lifestyle habits all carry their own reward so continue on with your healthy lifestyle –you’ll feel better.

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