Cholesterol and Heart Disease: Why Has There Been So Much Controversy?

Is the role of cholesterol in heart disease settled beyond a reasonable doubt?

The videos I mentioned are:

Thanks for watching. I hope you’ll join in the evidence-based nutrition revolution!
-Michael Greger, MD FACLM

[DoctorRevers]

My dad is a heart patient, in the hospital waiting on test results to determine whether the recommended angiogram followed by new stents should follow.
For breakfast they fed him eggs and sausage. I asked what the hell is that about? They told me that is the breakfast everyone receives unless we’d like him to be on a “heart healthy diet”. She asks me, “would that be better?” I say anything would be better than eggs and sausage. He is a heart patient wow. They’re recommending life threatening and kidney compromising procedures while feeding food that causes heart disease. Sorry but that is criminal if you ask me. Will be speaking with someone else there.
Should mention we’re in Canada. Not sure how hospital meals differ. But this is typical of hospitals here.

[jphottroddlincoln]

For the past year I have been reading up on the plant based diet. Diets suggested by Dr. Gregor and colleagues like T. Colin Cambell and Dr. Mcdougall. Within a couple weeks I felt younger, slept less, and had ridiculous energy. I did the research because many people close to me have passed with cancer, and cardio vascular disease. Sure I will admit that I love cheese and burgers, and I am also a foodie. If I go eat a large meat and cheese heavy sandwich I feel like crap all day. I have symptoms suggesting a heart related issue and when I eat fresh vegetables, cut out sugar and fat, I start to feel much better in days.
That being said my personal experience has been successful, but I can understand the general public is very uneducated on proper diet and health regimen. Keep in mind that most doctors have about 4 credit hours of actual dietary study in medical school. Unless you are food scientist you must consider that is you are going to challenge the status quo be prepared to lose funding or tenure. We have all been taught to eat like we will live forever, never once considering you are what you eat. Depending on where you live look around, observe the way people look. Look at the department store and see the amount of shelves stocked for larger people. Read a book and write down how many calories you eat, and consider not attaching emotion to food. As soon as I mention to someone I work with for example that the lunch I am watching them eat has so much fat and calories, I can see they are depressed because of their obesity. We were all raised by someone that may not have realized the food we eat is bad for us. Not to mention that it is suggested that commercial farming is the #1 cause of global warming, not your SUV or 10mpg vehicle making your social status acceptable in suburbia.
I'm confused there are so many people in the comments that wouldn't consider Dr. Gregor or others like him doing what is the right thing to do, help and heal. If I told you this new burger joint has the best food you would consider going to check it out without question, but if I told you a plant based diet has a high probability of adding years to your life, reducing your chance of disease and many other life threatening ailments, It is met with near complete resistance.
My suggestion is go to the website Nutritionfacts.org, do some research before condemning the science.

[JakeNYC]

Thank you for continuing to shine a spotlight on this topic. Where I believe most of the confusion comes from is that there are two schools of thought on this topics. School A: Dietary Cholesterol and Cholesterol in your body are the same thing (i.e. you eat high cholesterol foods, your cholesterol goes up), in other words, a direct linkage and School B: where it is viewed that dietary cholesterol, when consumed is esterified, and not directly consumed by the body, but goes through another pathway (as described in the below that metabolic pathway is "health" or results in appropriate cholesterol regulation...excess cholesterol is excreted...in others words, there is no direct linkage between high cholesterol consumption to high cholesterol levels in the blood....it probably goes without saying, an indirect relationship exists and, high cholesterol foods, generally negatively impact metabolic health, lead to poor cholesterol regulation in the body, and so on.... Would really love to hear your (Dr. Greger) throughs on Dr. Attias view on this...Thanks!

[Hansulf]

Only around 5% of dietary colesterol make It into your blood. The problem is not cholesterol, is oxidized cholesterol. This happens because or ROS due to high glucose and fat levels on the blood. Yes, the more cholesterol in the blood, the more cholesterol that can get oxidized and stick to the walls, but the cause is not cholesterol, is the oxidation of. That's why high vegetables in diet are so importan: fibre slows down the intake of fats and sugars, antioxidants remove ROS. Saturated fats are the problem because they increase the synthesis of cholesterol in our body. But this applies to all saturated fats. So you should avoid saturated fats, simple sugars and too much fatty acids in generals. While statines have failed to ingrese mouse longevity, other drugs that decrease sugar levels had increase longevity in mice. Take out white rice, bread, pasta and other simple sugars and you arleady good to go even with high LDL in your Blood.

[SherryEllesson]

Thanks for this video. I have friends who are still doing keto, insisting dietary has nothing to do with serum cholesterol levels, and I fear for them. Their assertion that french fries (with ketchup, of course) count as two veggies makes me cringe.

[betzib]

Tons of nutrition experts in these comments...who needs dr greger ?

[justcarineinparis]

What a cliffhanger !!! I can’t wait for the next episode!!!
Thanks Doc! ❤

[henrylar]

insane how much conflicting info these pop up keto docs keep recycling

[nessieness]

There are different types of LDL, the large buoyant type (not really harmful) and the very low density type (harmful). Should be taken into account as harmful oxidized cholesterol should be. Most cholesterol does not actually come from what you eat, your liver makes it.

[ls]

There is still a lot of controversy about statins even though they are proven to reduce cardiovascular risks. There does remain conflicting information about saturated fat. I've read that eating full fat yogurt or milk is just as healthy as nonfat as there isn't a clear mortality advantage to the lowfat choice. So there does remain some uncertainty out there. Being someone with a proclivity to metabolic syndrome, my prevention method of choice is strenuous exercise. I have read that even someone with high risk factors for heart disease can substantially improve their odds by improving VO2 max.

[apriljohnson]

What about apoB? How does that fit into the blood test picture?

[filipinovegaslife]

How do you explain the study that shows people who lives longer than the average has a higher cholesterol level on dying from a heart attack? Because if cholesterol causes heart attack, would the ones with higher levels die earlier?

[KJSvitko]

Health care costs are out of control. Going vegan can save money, pain and suffering from disease.
Lower your chance of high blood pressure, heart disease and cancer by going vegan. Hospitals, doctors offices and schools should be places where good nutrition is taught and provided not places that contribute to disease and obesity. It is crazy the hospitals are feeding people the very food that caused the heart disease, high blood pressure or cancer that they are treating. Every person in the hospital should receive some nutrition education before being released. Every doctor visit should be an opportunity to educate patients about how food choices impacts their health outcomes. The fact that doctors do not get nutrition training as part of their training makes no sense. Medicare and Medicaid should require nutrition education as part of patient care. Focus should be on food choices.

[docbegone]

Love your videos - I've been WFPB 4 years - love it. I know that information can be spun to make anything sound plausible, but some carnivores out there sometimes profess things that sound - like - plausible. For example, a youtuber (BK), states that the reason why there is diabetes is not because the fat is not allowed in the cells, but the blood sugar content is high - Diabetes is too much blood sugar and not the fact that glucose can't enter the cell. He states that if consuming no sugars, starches of any kind, fat is not plugging up you cells, but the body is doing exactly what it is meant to do - cells are living off fat (ketones). It's hard to debate this when "we" say that glucose is not able to enter the cells, and they say that glucose is not supposed to enter "most" cells. (the little glucose that is needed for some cells is produced by the body). I think that it would be outstanding if you could enter into an online debate with this person. Oh and if you do, be prepared, all science out there is incorrect except for his science. I have to say some of his arguments sound "sound", but because I have researched WFPB for 10 years, I can pick up on the falsehoods he states, but there are many people out there who because they have not researched significantly, could possibly be misled by all the "spin-ery). I'd love to have you debate this person. I think that there are not enough debates out there anymore and the world and this platform would greatly benefit from such a debate. WHOSE WITH ME? Peace and love❤

[flyshacker]

I hate to muddy the water any further. But Dr. Klaper says that having high cholesterol is meaningless if one is already on a well planned whole food plant based diet. He says cholesterol numbers are valid only for people on an average American diet of animal products (plus the obligatory excessive amounts of added salt, oil, and sugar). If Dr. Klaper is right, then heart disease is NOT as simple as having high cholesterol. So, is Dr. Klaper right?

[LisaCulton]

The ratios of Triglycerides, total cholesterol and HDL, as well as percentage of sdLDL are more reliable in predicting cardiac risk than just total cholesterol. Total cholesterol can be what you call "high", but as long as the ratios are good (high HDL, low triglycerides, low proportion of sdLDL) there is no need for concern.
As far as consuming cholesterol raising serum cholesterol, that is not the case for everyone.

[bookmouse]

Chanukah semaech Dr. Greger! Perfect content for Chanukah 🤣🤣🤣

[Morfeusm]

My doctor warned me about my high cholesterol (just in normal for EU standards but much higher than it should be). I am 36, active, healthy bmi, vegan for 9 years (this week anniversary lol). The reason is simple: saturated fat, oils, pastry & high added sugar diet. Time to really sit down before arteriosclerosis and CVD totally destroys me (predisposed). Have higher blood pressure too(diastolic 82 permanently) I am literally in the same trap you all are in USA but just riding my vegan junkyard instead of SAD. Funnily enough I have all information here and yet I am dumb. One kale leaf doesn’t save me from beyond burger with fancy vegan cheese and yummy vegan mayonnaise.

[lakehuron]

Would it be possible to do a video on how animal fat stores pesticides? Or the high concentrations of lead (and other toxins) found in organic bone broths? Truly appreciate all your hard work--thank you!

[mcfaddenhall]

I'm so happy we haven't seen the Dr. Gregor avatar in a long time.