High cholesterol levels, do they harm the body and heart or has this information been over blown and cholesterol levels aren’t really that important?  Even the research studies can’t agree.

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?”

So if the experts can’t even agree on the dangers of high cholesterol, what are we supposed to do? Does the disagreement give us free reign to go out and eat high-cholesterol foods to our heart’s content?

Some might make such claims, but we all know the effect fatty foods can have on our waistline. Since neither school of though would say excess body fat is exactly healthy, it might be better to err on the safe side.

I also remember when I use to donate blood and when I donated after a meal of a burger and fries the donation time would take a lot longer than if I had a salad for lunch. After checking around I found that the fat in the burger and fries would indeed make the texture of blood thicker compared to having a lower fat meal.  I don’t know if I want my heart to have to work harder to push around thick blood, so I try to watch what I eat and stay on the low cholesterol side of things.

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