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References:

LDL correlates directly with heart disease, HDL inversely:
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.534.842&rep=rep1&type=pdf
https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/circulationaha.108.816181

direct tests confirm LDL is a factor in heart disease:
https://academic.oup.com/eurheartj/article/38/32/2459/3745109

higher HDL via drugs or genetic mutation not associated with lower risk of heart disease:
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa0706628
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140673612603122

heart disease virtually nonexistent when LDL under 75mg/dL:
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.534.842&rep=rep1&type=pdf


There’s bad cholesterol and good cholesterol. (LDL/HDL)

LDL is baaaad cholesterol. It raises our risk of heart disease.

HDL is good cholesterol. it pulls cholesterol out of our arteries so it protects us from heart disease.

according to that story, we wana keep LDL low, and HDL high. And maaaybe if my LDL is high it doesn’t even matter that much, as long as I also raise my HDL?

Just one tiny problem.

It’s not true.

When we look at population studies, yeah LDL levels correlate with heart disease, the more LDL the more heart disease. and HDL does show the opposite trend. The higher the HDL, the less likely people are to suffer from heart disease. So far so simple.

BUT when scientists tested this idea more directly, things weren’t quite that simple.

LDL was confirmed to be problematic, no surprise there. If we keep LDL down with drugs or a healthy diet, heart disease risk comes down.

Also, people with mutations in their DNA that give them low LDL from birth have crazy low rates of heart disease.

so LDL is a baaaad boy.

How about HDL? Is it really protective?

raising it using certain drugs doesnt help. And people with mutations giving them high HDL arent better off either.

So when we look at all the evidence together, the current understanding is that raising HDL doesn’t seem to help.

What about that idea that raising HDL makes up for having high LDL?

No.

that’s a little confusing… in the population studies, people with high HDL had less heart disease, but raising it doesnt’t help?

maybe HDL is just a marker. It goes up together with other factors that are protective, but raising HDL itself doesn’t do much.

raising HDL doesn’t help, so we don’t need to worry about it. We can focus our energy on getting that LDL down.

LDL really is bad cholesterol. And, As for good cholesterol, the only good cholesterol is keeping that LDL under 75mg/dL, in that sweetspot where ur risk of heart disease is essentially nonexistent.


Disclaimer: The Information in this video is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment, nor to replace medical care. The information presented herein is accurate and conforms to the available scientific evidence to the best of the author's knowledge as of the time of posting. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions regarding any medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay seeking it because of inf