Wade Reeser wrote:
> You seem to be particularly
"cholestrophobic" and this seems to color your reading of the studies.
People must be critical and scrutinize the papers that support or attack

their hypotheses.  You would do well to understand the science behind
some of the conclusions that you often report out of context or without
various caveats.

Actually, I think Todd is extremely balanced. He has indicated that the
cholesterol theory is not a settled fact and that everyone must decide
for themselves how important this cholesterol metric is. I don't believe
it means much of anything, and I haven't bothered to get mine checked. I
go by the fact that I feel healthier, have fewer allergies, don't get
sick much anymore, am near my ideal weight (finally), etc.

There are many theories of heart disease, here is my informal summary
and (unlearned) comments:

1. cholesterol, meaning that the intake of dietary cholesterol, or the
intake of saturated fat, causes increased serum cholesterol levels which
correlate with increased atherosclerosis and increased incidence of
other heart disease. I don't believe that intake of cholesterol
correlates with increased serum cholesterol levels, but obviously intake
of saturated fats for some correlates with increased levels. The
importance of this increase is what is debated (here), though to most
cardiologists and the lay public it's an established fact (which it
isn't).

2. homocysteine, correlates very well, easily controlled with B complex
vitamins (I believe in vitamins).

3. vitamin C, some say decreased levels of C intake correlate with
increased heart disease.

4. triglycerides, insulin, carb intake. Seems to be some truth in this,
high carb intake causes elevated trig levels, elevated insulin levels,
leading to higher chance of heart disease. I eat a reduced carb version
of Neanderthin.

5. foreign proteins, e.g. Neanderthin hypothesis. Seems to be a lot of
truth to this, too. Dr. Atkins doesn't have the whole story, a carb is
not a carb, there is a difference between eating onions and eating the
equivalent in chocolate.

6. sodium imbalance. Ratio of sodium to potassium has been upside down
for quite a while. Some evidence that this causes mitochondrial damage,
I believe.

7. calcium and magnesium deficiency. Most people are perhaps deficient
in calcium and magnesium, and this could contribute to heart disease.

8. essential fatty acid imbalance, unfavorable omega 6 to omega 3 ratio.
Seems to have a good bit of truth. I take flaxseed oil, I know it's not
paleo but it corrects this imbalance caused by eating a lot of grain fed
muscle meat (which I eat a lot of)

9. hydrogenated fat intake. I don't eat any of this, but a lot of people
do, it's in every form of processed food, and studies show correlation
with heart disease.

10. trace minerals deficiency. I don't believe in this one, seems that
there are no studies backing this up, only the hawkers of colloidal
minerals

11. vitamin E deficiency. Vitamin E is only found in nuts, in any
quantity, I believe. Supplemental vitamin E over many years has been
shown to reduce incidence of heart disease, I believe. I take a lot of
Vitamin E, the natural mixed tocopherols and not just the alpha
tocopherol.

12. bacterial theory. Studies have shown decreased heart disease in
people who have taken anti-biotics, and suspicious bacterial
colonization in arteries. This could be a secondary result of weakened
immune system, of course, rather than a primary cause.

I don't think that everyone has the "whole" story but I think that heart
disease is mostly an auto-immune disorder caused by intake of lots of
foreign proteins that continually challenge the body, augmented by
increased intake of carbs that cause continually heightened insulin
response, augmented by lack of vitamin C and B and E...

--Richard