Cholesterol - Myth

Since, I was quite busy at work and personal commitments, couldn’t post for the past two weeks. Thanks for your WhatsApp messages, asking about my well-being. Coming back to the business……….

In the past two posts (post1 & post 2) we have seen, how cholesterol is important for life and the erroneousness in the present lipid profile calculations. In this post, let’s see how to reduce the Triglyceride and Increase the HDL. Also, the relation between lipids and heart diseases.

Though Hypertriglyceridemia (high triglyceride level) is not only associated with Coronary Heart Diseases (CHD) Also, correlate more closely with waist circumference (abdominal obesity) Type II diabetes, pancreatitis (inflammation in Pancreas) non-alcoholic fatty liver, obesity, conditions like, low HDL and small, dense LDL particle formation. 

Definitely, hypertriglyceridemia is not a good sign for our health. As per the present standards, between 101-150 mg/dl is considered as Normal. (Less than 100 mg/dl is Optimal) before knowing the way to reduce the triglyceride level less than 70, let’s understand what it is.

Triglycerides are the main constituents of vegetable oils or animal fats. Triglycerides less dense than water (floats on water), and at normal room temperatures may be solid or liquid. When solid, they are called "fats" or "butters" and when liquid they are called "oils". Hence, they are known as neutral fat(s)

Our body uses the triglycerides as an energy reservoir and later uses for energy (to support starvation periods) also account for the vast majority of fat stored in the human body. Triglycerides are the mechanism for storing and transporting the fatty acids as a fuel also, help to maintain the blood sugar level. (refer: Human vs Food)

We get triglycerides directly from the food (like animal fat and Oils) or the Liver synthesis from the excess carbohydrate we eat. (that’s the reason in HFLC, we restrict the carb’s to 50 grams / day)  Triglycerides are released into the blood stream, in the form of VLDL where it is delivered to fat cells for long-term storage. (Adipose tissue) High triglycerides levels are the major causes of Obesity and Insulin resistance (diabetic) 

As their name suggests, the triglycerides are composed of one molecule of glycerol and joined via ester bonds with three molecules of (free) fatty acids. 

Glycerol (commonly known as glycerin, is a simple polyol compound, colorless, odorless, viscous liquid that is sweet-tasting liquid belonging to the alcohol family) is the backbone for triglycerides. In short, if there is no Glycerol, there is no triglycerides.

In HFLC, we consume triglycerides directly from the food source (not allowing or pretty much limiting the liver to produce) and during the digestive process, the triglycerides in our food are broken down into glycerol and fatty acids. Glycerol used to maintain the blood sugar level and the fatty acids are used as energy. There is no storage (no weight gain, no blood sugar surge) 

HFLC allows the body to start breaking the stored triglycerides, for energy and blood sugar maintenance. Which leads to lose weight. Specially the waist size, where the triglycerides stored as adipose tissue.

So, by eating fat, you actually burring the fat. By eating carb, you store the fat.  If you want to reduce the triglycerides level, the one and only possible way is to cut down (all forms of) the carbohydrate to less than or around 50g per day and consume (good, old) saturated and mono-saturated fats without any guilt. 

In my case, when I quit, all grains, cereals, sugar, fruits, legumes, lentils and start eating meat, animal fat and butter, my triglycerides levels come down about 56%. i.e. from 121 mg/dl to 53 mg/dl. (I have many evidences of such drastic change in triglycerides level, those who follow HFLC)

Mar 2015

Feb 2017

According to the Basic Medical Biochemistry—A Clinical Approach, pages 476, 510-12  “Adipose tissue (fat) is stored only when eating carbohydrates. Excess energy from dietary carbohydrate is stored away as triglyceride in adipose tissue”     

HFLC is not only decreasing the triglycerides level, also it increases the HDL. In my case 40 to 56 mg/dl, which is about 40% increase.

Dietary cholesterol, has very less impact on serum LDL. A study in Metabolism (Ref: Metabolism 2001 May;50(5):594-597.) showed that “With even a 30% fat diet, increasing dietary cholesterol from 319 mg to 941 mg per day (about 300% increase), the blood LDL only increased a mere 6% (18 points)!” 

From the above study is in line with my case. With HFLC, my fat consumption increased around 300% but my LDL percent increased only about 84% (my fat consumption increased from 30g to 120g) Instead of small and dense LDL, it’s become large and fluffy ones.

As far as LDL is concern, high level or count doesn’t matter. It’s a mere number. It doesn’t revel anything about the CHD. But, the LDL pattern is very crucial. The small sized, high dense LDL are the one stuck (rancid and became a plaque) in the artery. The large and fluffy LDL’s are totally harmless and can’t stuck or block the artery.

Again, please bear in mind, the LDL is there in, the artery only to cure/heal the inflammation that caused by high carb food, elevated blood sugar and insulin levels. (will write the separate post on this)  In HFLC, your liver start to produce large and fluffy LDL. Also, doesn’t cause an inflammation. HFLC address the root cause rather than just to treat the symptom.

Finally the total cholesterol level, as per the present standard above 200mg/dl considered abnormal level and you may be advised to take cholesterol drug to reduce. But, the truth is above 200mg/dl (with low TG and Large LDL) is a good sign that your liver is in healthy condition. In my case, the total cholesterol level increased from 190mg/dl to 300mg/dl. Which is about 58% (But, my fat consumption increased around 300%) 

According to the Framingham Study (largest study ever done on cholesterol) up to 340 mg/dl is perfectly normal. In fact, it’s Healthy! (refer: here  Also, will write in detail in the next post)

So next time, if you doctor ask to reduce the total cholesterol to less than 200mg/dl, ask him two simple questions, 1) who fixed the total cholesterol level up to 200 as a healthy level?  2) On what basis they arrived to this magical number 200.

If he can’t answer, don’t worry. I will tell you in the next post about big cholesterol scam.