Cholesterol: Friend Or Foe?
Written by Natasha Campbell-McBride, MD
2008-May-04
The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while
nature cures the disease. –Voltaire
In
our modern world, cholesterol has become almost a swear word. Thanks to the
promoters of the diet-heart hypothesis, everybody "knows" that
cholesterol is "evil" and has to be fought at every turn. If you
believe the popular media, you would think that there is simply no level of
cholesterol low enough. If you are over a certain age, you are likely to be
tested for how much cholesterol you have in your blood. If it is higher than
about 200 mg/100ml (5.1 mol/l), you may be prescribed a "cholesterol pill."
Millions of people around the world take these pills, thinking that this way
they are taking good care of their health. What these people don’t realize is
just how far from the truth they are. The truth is that we humans cannot live
without cholesterol. Let us see why.
Our
bodies are made out of billions of cells. Almost every cell produces
cholesterol all the time during all of our lives. Why? Because every cell of
every organ has cholesterol as a part of its structure. Cholesterol is an
integral and very important part of our cell membranes, the membranes that
enclose each of our cells, and also of the membranes surrounding all the
organelles inside the cell. What is cholesterol doing there? A number of
things.
Structural
Integrity
First
of all, saturated fats and cholesterol make the membranes of the cells
firm—without them the cells would become flabby and fluid. If we humans didn’t
have cholesterol and saturated fats in the membranes of our cells, we would
look like giant worms or slugs. And we are not talking about a few molecules of
cholesterol here and there. In many cells, almost half of the cell membrane is
made from cholesterol. Different kinds of cells in the body need different
amounts of cholesterol, depending on their function and purpose. If the cell is
part of a protective barrier, it will have a lot of cholesterol in it to make
it strong, sturdy and resistant to any invasion. If a cell or an organelle
inside the cell needs to be soft and fluid, it will have less cholesterol in
its structure.
This
ability of cholesterol and saturated fats to firm up and reinforce the tissues
in the body is used by our blood vessels, particularly those that have to
withstand the high pressure and turbulence of the blood flow. These are usually
large or medium arteries in places where they divide or bend. The flow of blood
pounding through these arteries forces them to incorporate a layer of
cholesterol and saturated fat in the membranes, which makes it stronger,
tougher and more rigid. These layers of cholesterol and fat are called fatty
streaks. They are completely normal and form in all of us, starting from birth
and sometimes even before we are born. Various indigenous populations around
the world, who never suffer from heart disease, have plenty of fatty streaks in
their blood vessels in old and young, including children. Fatty streaks are not
indicative of the disease called atherosclerosis.
Lipid
Lifesavers
All
the cells in our bodies have to communicate with each other. How do they do
that? They use proteins embedded into the membrane of the cell. How are these
proteins fixed to the membrane? With the help of cholesterol and saturated
fats! Cholesterol and stiff saturated fatty acids form so-called lipid rafts,
which make little homes for every protein in the membrane and allow it to
perform its functions. Without cholesterol and saturated fats, our cells would
not be able to communicate with each other or to transport various molecules
into and out of the cell. As a result, our bodies would not be able to function
the way they do. The human brain is particularly rich in cholesterol: around 25
percent of all body cholesterol is accounted for by the brain. Every cell and
every structure in the brain and the rest of our nervous system needs
cholesterol, not only to build itself but also to accomplish its many
functions. The developing brain and eyes of the fetus and a newborn infant
require large amounts of cholesterol. If the fetus doesn’t get enough
cholesterol during development, the child may be born with a congenital
abnormality called cyclopean eye.1
Human
breast milk provides a lot of cholesterol. Not only that, mother’s milk
provides a specific enzyme to allow the baby’s digestive tract to absorb almost
100 percent of that cholesterol, because the developing brain and eyes of an
infant require large amounts of it. Children deprived of cholesterol in infancy
may end up with poor eyesight and brain function. Manufacturers of infant
formulas are aware of this fact, but following the anti-cholesterol dogma, they
produce formulas with virtually no cholesterol in them.
Vital
Brain Matter
One
of the most abundant materials in the brain and the rest of our nervous system
is a fatty substance called myelin. Myelin coats every nerve cell and every
nerve fiber like the insulating cover around electric wires. Apart from
insulation, it provides nourishment and protection for every tiny structure in
our brain and the rest of the nervous system. People who start losing their
myelin develop a condition called multiple sclerosis. Well, 20 percent of
myelin is cholesterol. If you start interfering with the body’s ability to
produce cholesterol, you put the very structure of the brain and the rest of
the nervous system under threat.
The
synthesis of myelin in the brain is tightly connected with the synthesis of
cholesterol. In my clinical experience, foods with high cholesterol and high
animal fat content are an essential medicine for a person with multiple
sclerosis. One of the most wonderful abilities we humans are blessed with is
the ability to remember things—our human memory. How do we form memories? By
our brain cells establishing connections with each other, called synapses. The
more healthy synapses a person’s brain can make, the more mentally able and
intelligent that person is. Scientists have discovered that synapse formation
is almost entirely dependent on cholesterol, which is produced by the brain
cells in a form called apolipoprotein E. Without the presence of this factor we
cannot form synapses, and hence we would not be able to learn or remember
anything. Memory loss is one of the side effects of cholesterol-lowering
drugs.
In
my clinic, I see growing numbers of people with memory loss who have been
taking cholesterol- lowering pills. Dr Duane Graveline, MD, former NASA
scientist and astronaut, suffered such memory loss while taking his cholesterol
pill. He managed to save his memory by stopping the pill and eating lots of
cholesterol-rich foods. Since then he has described his experience in his book,
Lipitor: Thief of Memory, Statin Drugs and the Misguided War on Cholesterol.
Dietary cholesterol in fresh eggs and other cholesterol-rich foods has been
shown in scientific trials to improve memory in the elderly. In my clinical
experience, any person with memory loss or learning problems needs to have
plenty of these foods every single day in order to recover.
Necessary
Product Of The Body
These
foods give the body a hand in supplying cholesterol so it does not have to work
as hard to produce its own. What a lot of people don’t realize is that most
cholesterol in the body does not come from food! The body produces cholesterol
as it is needed. Scientific studies have conclusively demonstrated that
cholesterol from food has no effect whatsoever on the level of our blood cholesterol.
Why? Because cholesterol is such an essential part of our human physiology that
the body has very efficient mechanisms to keep blood cholesterol at a certain
level.
When
we eat more cholesterol, the body produces less; when we eat less cholesterol,
the body produces more. As a raw material for making cholesterol the body can
use carbohydrates, proteins and fats, which means that your pasta and bread can
be used for making cholesterol in the body. It has been estimated that, in an
average person, about 85 percent of blood cholesterol is produced by the body,
while only 15 percent comes from food. So, even if you religiously follow a
completely cholesterol-free diet, you will still have a lot of cholesterol in
your body. However, cholesterol-lowering drugs are a completely different
matter! They interfere with the body’s ability to produce cholesterol, and
hence they do reduce the amount of cholesterol available for the body to use.
Dangers
Of Low Cholesterol
If
we do not take cholesterol-lowering drugs, most of us don’t have to worry about
cholesterol. However, there are people whose bodies, for whatever reason, are
unable to produce enough cholesterol. These people are prone to emotional
instability and behavioral problems. Low blood cholesterol has been routinely
recorded in criminals who have committed murder and other violent crimes,
people with aggressive and violent personalities, people prone to suicide and
people with aggressive social behavior and low self-control.
I
would like to repeat what the late Oxford professor David Horrobin warned us
about: "Reducing cholesterol in the population on a large scale could lead
to a general shift to more violent patterns of behavior. Most of this increased
violence would not result in death but in more aggression at work and in the
family, more child abuse, more wife-beating and generally more
unhappiness."
People
whose bodies are unable to produce enough cholesterol do need to have plenty of
foods rich in cholesterol in order to provide their organs with this
essential-to-life substance.
What
else does our body need all that cholesterol for?
Endocrine
System
After
the brain, the organs hungriest for cholesterol are our endocrine glands:
adrenals and sex glands. They produce steroid hormones. Steroid hormones in the
body are made from cholesterol: testosterone, progesterone, pregnenolone,
androsterone, estrone, estradiol, corticosterone, aldosterone and others. These
hormones accomplish a myriad of functions in the body, from regulation of our
metabolism, energy production, mineral assimilation, brain, muscle and bone
formation to behavior, emotions and reproduction. In our stressful modern lives
we consume a lot of these hormones, leading to a condition called "adrenal
exhaustion." This condition is diagnosed very often by naturopaths and
other health practitioners. There are many herbal preparations on the market
for adrenal exhaustion. However, the most important therapeutic measure is to
provide your adrenal glands with plenty of dietary cholesterol.
Without
cholesterol we would not be able to have children because every sex hormone in
our bodies is made from cholesterol. A fair percentage of our infertility
epidemic can be laid at the doorstep of the diet-heart hypothesis. The more
eager we became to fight animal fats and cholesterol, the more problems with
normal sexual development, fertility and reproduction we started to face. About
a third of western men and women are infertile, and increasing numbers of our
youngsters are growing up with abnormalities in their sex hormones. These
abnormalities lead to many physical problems.
Recent
research has "discovered" that eating full-cream dairy products cures
infertility in women.2 Researchers found that women who
drink whole milk and eat high-fat dairy products are more fertile than those
who stick to low-fat products. Study leader Dr Jorge Chavarro, of the Harvard
School of Public Health, emphasized: "Women wanting to conceive should
examine their diet. They should consider changing low-fat dairy foods for high-fat
dairy foods, for instance by swapping skimmed milk for whole milk and eating
cream, not low-fat yoghurt."
The
Liver And Vitamin Regulation
One
of the busiest organs in terms of cholesterol production in our bodies is the
liver, which regulates the level of our blood cholesterol. The liver also puts
a lot of cholesterol into bile production. Yes, bile is made out of
cholesterol. Without bile we would not be able to digest and absorb fats and
fat-soluble vitamins. Bile emulsifies fats; in other words, it mixes them with
water, so that digestive enzymes can get to them. After it completes its
mission, most of the bile gets reabsorbed in the digestive system and brought
back to the liver for recycling. In fact, 95 percent of our bile is recycled
because the building blocks of bile, one of which is cholesterol, are too
precious for the body to waste. Nature doesn’t do anything without good reason.
This example of the careful recycling of cholesterol alone should have given us
a good idea about its importance for the body!
Bile
is essential for absorbing fat-soluble vitamins: vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin
K and vitamin E. We cannot live without these vitamins. Apart from ensuring
that fat-soluble vitamins get digested and absorbed properly, cholesterol is the
major building block of one of these vitamins: vitamin D. Vitamin D is made
from the cholesterol in our skin when it is exposed to sunlight. In those times
of the year when there isn’t much sunlight, we can get this vitamin from
cholesterol-rich foods: cod liver oil, fish, shellfish, butter, lard and egg
yolks. Our recent misguided fears of the sun and avoidance of cholesterol-rich
foods have created an epidemic of vitamin D deficiency in the Western world.
Unfortunately,
apart from sunlight and cholesterol-rich foods there is no other appropriate
way to get vitamin D. Of course, there are supplements, but most of them
contain vitamin D2, which is made by irradiating
mushrooms and other plants. This vitamin is not the same as the natural vitamin
D. It does not work as effectively and it is easy to get a toxic level of it.
In fact, almost all cases of vitamin D toxicity ever recorded were cases where
this synthetic vitamin D2 had been used. Toxicity is almost
impossible with natural vitamin D obtained from sunlight or cholesterol-rich
foods because the body knows how to deal with an excess of natural substances.
What the body does not know how to deal with is an excess of synthetic vitamin
D2.
Vitamin
D has been designed to work as a team with another fat-soluble vitamin: vitamin
A. That is why foods rich in one tend to be rich in the other. So, by taking
cod liver oil, for example, we can obtain both vitamins at the same time. As we
grow older, our ability to produce vitamin D in the skin under sunlight is considerably
diminished. Taking foods rich in vitamin D is therefore particularly important
for older people. For the rest of us, sensible sunbathing is a wonderful,
healthy and enjoyable way of getting a good supply of vitamin D.
Skin
cancer, blamed on sunshine, is not caused by the sun. It is caused by trans
fats from vegetable oils and margarine and other toxins stored in the skin. In
addition, some of the sunscreens that people use contain chemicals that have
been proven to cause skin cancer3.
Immune
System Health
Cholesterol
is essential for our immune system to function properly. Animal experiments and
human studies have demonstrated that immune cells rely on cholesterol in
fighting infections and repairing themselves after the fight. In addition, LDL-cholesterol
(low-density lipoprotein cholesterol), the so-called "bad"
cholesterol, directly binds and inactivates dangerous bacterial toxins,
preventing them from doing any damage in the body. One of the most lethal
toxins is produced by a widely spread bacterium, Staphylococcus aureus, which
is the cause of MRSA (Methicillin- resistant Staphylococcus aureus), a common
hospital infection. This toxin can literally dissolve red blood cells. However,
it does not work in the presence of LDL-cholesterol. People who fall prey to
this toxin have low blood cholesterol. It has been recorded that people with
high levels of cholesterol are protected from infections; they are four times
less likely to contract AIDS, they rarely get common colds and they recover
from infections more quickly than people with "normal" or low blood
cholesterol.
People
with low blood cholesterol are prone to various infections, suffer from them
longer and are more likely to die from an infection. A diet rich in cholesterol
has been demonstrated to improve these people’s ability to recover from
infections. So, any person suffering from an acute or chronic infection needs
to eat high-cholesterol foods to recover. Cod liver oil, the richest source of
cholesterol (after caviar), has long been prized as the best remedy for the
immune system. Those familiar with old medical literature will tell you that
until the discovery of antibiotics, a common cure for tuberculosis was a daily
mixture of raw egg yolks and fresh cream.
Varying
Blood Cholesterol Levels
The
question is, why do some people have more cholesterol in their blood than
others, and why can the same person have different levels of cholesterol at
different times of the day? Why is our level of cholesterol different in
different seasons of the year? In winter it goes up and in the summer it goes
down. Why is it that blood cholesterol goes through the roof in people after
any surgery? Why does blood cholesterol go up when we have an infection? Why
does it go up after dental treatment? Why does it go up when we are under
stress? And why does it become normal when we are relaxed and feel well? The
answer to all these questions is this: cholesterol is a healing agent in the
body. When the body has some healing jobs to do, it produces cholesterol and
sends it to the site of the damage. Depending on the time of day, the weather,
the season and our exposure to various environmental agents, the damage to
various tissues in the body varies. As a result, the production of cholesterol
in the body also varies.
Since
cholesterol is usually discussed in the context of disease and atherosclerosis,
let us look at the blood vessels. Their inside walls are covered by a layer of
cells called the endothelium. Any damaging agent we are exposed to will finish
up in our bloodstream, whether it is a toxic chemical, an infectious organism,
a free radical or anything else. Once such an agent is in the blood, what is it
going to attack first? The endothelium, of course. The endothelium immediately
sends a message to the liver. Whenever our liver receives a signal that a wound
has been inflicted upon the endothelium somewhere in our vascular system, it
gets into gear and sends cholesterol to the site of the damage in a shuttle,
called LDL-cholesterol. Because this cholesterol travels from the liver to the
wound in the form of LDL, our "science," in its wisdom calls LDL
"bad" cholesterol. When the wound heals and the cholesterol is
removed, it travels back to the liver in the form of HDL cholesterol (high-density
lipoprotein cholesterol). Because this cholesterol travels away from the artery
back to the liver, our misguided "science" calls it "good"
cholesterol. This is like calling an ambulance traveling from the hospital to
the patient a "bad ambulance," and the one traveling from the patient
back to the hospital a "good ambulance."
But
the situation has gotten even more ridiculous. The latest thing that our
science has "discovered" is that not all LDL-cholesterol is so bad.
Most of it is actually good. So, now we are told to call that part of LDL the
"good bad cholesterol" and the rest of it the "bad bad
cholesterol."
Marvelous
Healing Agent
Why
does the liver send cholesterol to the site of the injury? Because the body
cannot clear the infection, remove toxic elements or heal the wound without
cholesterol and fats. Any healing involves the birth, growth and functioning of
thousands of cells: immune cells, endothelial cells and many others. As these
cells, to a considerable degree, are made out of cholesterol and fats, they cannot
form and grow without a good supply of these substances. When the cells are
damaged, they require cholesterol and fats to repair themselves. It is a
scientific fact that any scar tissue in the body contains good amounts of
cholesterol.4
Another
scientific fact is that cholesterol acts as an antioxidant in the body, dealing
with free radical damage.5 Any wound in the body contains
plenty of free radicals because the immune cells use these highly reactive
molecules for destroying microbes and toxins. Excess free radicals have to be
neutralized, and cholesterol is one of the natural substances that accomplishes
this function.
When
we have surgery, our tissues are cut and many small arteries, veins and
capillaries get damaged. The liver receives a very strong signal from this
damage, so it floods the body with LDL-cholesterol to clean and heal every
little wound in our blood vessels. That is why blood cholesterol goes high
after any surgical procedure. After dental treatment, in addition to the damage
to the tissues, a lot of bacteria from the tooth and the gums finish up in the
blood, attacking the inside walls of our blood vessels. Once again, the liver
gets a strong signal from that damage and produces lots of healing cholesterol
to deal with it, so the blood cholesterol goes up.
The
same thing happens when we have an infection: LDL-cholesterol goes up to deal
with the bacterial or viral attack.
Apart
from the endothelium, our immune cells need cholesterol to function and to heal
themselves after the fight with the infection.
Our
stress hormones are made out of cholesterol in the body. Stressful situations
increase our blood cholesterol levels because cholesterol is being sent to the
adrenal glands for stress hormone production. Apart from that, when we are
under stress, a storm of free radicals and other damaging biochemical reactions
occur in the blood. So the liver works hard to produce and send out as much
cholesterol as possible to deal with the free radical attack. In situations
like this, your blood cholesterol will test high. In short, when we have a
high blood cholesterol level, it means that the body is dealing with some kind
of damage. The
last thing we should do is interfere with this process! When the damage has
been dealt with, the blood cholesterol will naturally go down. If we have an
ongoing disease in the body that constantly inflicts damage, then the blood
cholesterol will be permanently high. So, when a doctor finds high cholesterol
in a patient, what this doctor should do is to look for the reason. The doctor
should ask, "What is damaging the body so that the liver has to produce
all that cholesterol to deal with the damage?" Unfortunately, instead of
this sensible procedure, our doctors are trained to attack the cholesterol.
Many
natural herbs, antioxidants and vitamins have an ability to reduce our blood
cholesterol. How do they do that? By helping the body remove the damaging
agents, be they free radicals, bacteria, viruses or toxins. As a result, the
liver does not have to produce so much cholesterol to deal with the damage. At
the same time, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, herbs and other natural
remedies help to heal the wound. When the wound heals there is no need for high
levels of cholesterol anymore, so the body removes it in the form of
HDL-cholesterol or so-called "good" cholesterol. That is why herbs,
vitamins, antioxidants and other natural remedies increase the level of
HDL-cholesterol in the blood.
In
conclusion, cholesterol is one of the most important substances in the body. We
cannot live without it, let alone function well. The pernicious diet-heart
hypothesis has vilified this essential substance. Unfortunately, this
hypothesis has served many commercial and political interests far too well, so
they ensure its long survival. However, the life of the diet-heart hypothesis
is coming to an end as we become aware that cholesterol has been mistakenly
blamed for the crime just because it was found at the scene.
Sidebars
Dietary Sources Of Cholesterol
·
Caviar
is the richest source; it provides 588 mg of cholesterol per 100 grams.
Obviously, this is not a common food for the majority of us, so let us have a
look at the next item on the list.
·
Cod
liver oil follows closely with 570 mg of cholesterol per 100 grams. There is no
doubt that the cholesterol element of cod liver oil plays an important role in
all the well-known health benefits of this time-honored health food.
·
Fresh
egg yolk takes third place, with 424 mg of cholesterol per 100 gram. I would
like to repeat: fresh egg yolk, not chemically mutilated egg powders (they
contain chemically mutilated cholesterol)!
·
Butter
provides a good 218 mg of cholesterol per 100 gram. We are talking about
natural butter, not butter substitutes.
·
Cold-water
fish and shellfish, such as salmon, sardines, mackerel and shrimps, provide
good amounts of cholesterol, ranging from 173 mg to 81 mg per 100 gram. The
proponents of low-cholesterol diets tell you to replace meats with fish.
Obviously, they are not aware of the fact that fish is almost twice as rich in
cholesterol as meat.
·
Lard
provides 94 mg of cholesterol per 100 gram. Other animal fats follow.
Vitamin D Deficiency
What
does it mean for our bodies to be deficient in vitamin D? A long list of
suffering:
·
Diabetes,
as vitamin D is essential for blood sugar control
·
Heart
disease
·
Mental
illness
·
Auto-immune
illness, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, inflammatory bowel disease and
multiple sclerosis
·
Obesity
·
Osteoarthritis
·
Rickets
and osteomalacia
·
Muscle
weakness and poor neuro-muscular coordination
·
High
blood pressure
·
Cancer
·
Chronic
pain
·
Poor
immunity and susceptibility to infections
·
Hyperparathyroidism,
which manifests itself as osteoporosis, kidney stones, depression, aches and
pains, chronic fatigue, muscle weakness and digestive abnormalities
References
Strauss E. One-eyed animals
implicate cholesterol in development. Science. 1998 Jun 5;280(5369):1528-9.
Chavarro JI and others. A
prospective study of dairy foods intake and anovulatory infertility. Human Reproduction, Issue 28, Feb 2007.
Pfohl M and others. Upregulation of
cholesterol synthesis after acute myocardial infarction--is cholesterol a
positive acute phase reactant? Atherosclerosis. 1999 Feb;142(2):389-93.
This
article appeared in Wise
Traditions in Food, Farming and the Healing Arts, the quarterly magazine of the
Weston A. Price Foundation, Fall 2007.
About
the Author
Natasha
Campbell-McBride,
MD, MMedSci (neurology), MMedSci (nutrition), graduated with honors as a
medical doctor in 1984 from Bashkir Medical University in Russia. In the
following years she gained a postgraduate degree in neurology.After practicing
for five years as a neurologist and three years as a neurosurgeon, she started
a family and moved to the UK. Fairly shortly after that her son was diagnosed
autistic, which prompted an intensive study into causes and treatments of
autism. It was during this time that Dr. Campbell-McBride developed her
theories on the relationship between neurological disorders and nutrition. She then
completed a second postgraduate degree in human nutrition at Sheffield
University, UK.
Having
successfully treated her son, Dr. Campbell-McBride has returned to practice in
2000 and runs the Cambridge Nutrition Clinic. She has specialized in using nutritional
approach as a treatment, and has become recognized as one of the world’s
leading experts in treating children and adults with learning disabilities and
other mental disorders, as well as children and adults with digestive and
immune disorders.
In
2004 she has published Gut
and Psychology Syndrome: Natural Treatment Of Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia,
Dyspraxia, Depression and Schizophrenia, in which she explores the connection between the
patient's physical state and brain function. The book gives full details of the
GAPS Nutritional Protocol, highly successful in treating patients with learning
disabilities and other mental problems.
In
her clinic, Dr Campbell-McBride works with many patients suffering from heart
disease, high blood pressure, arrhythmia, stroke and other complications of
atherosclerosis. She has become acutely aware of the existing confusion about
nutrition and these conditions, which spurred an intensive study into this
subject. The result of this study is her new book Put You Heart In Your
Mouth! What Really Is Heart Disease and What We Can Do To Prevent and Even
Reverse It.
Dr Campbell-McBride is a keynote speaker at many
professional conferences and seminars around the world. She frequently gives
talks to health practitioners, patient groups and associations. She is a member
of the Society of Authors and a regular contributing health editor to a number
of magazines and newsletters.
