Right on, DJ and Ponder. It's amazing how many people including doctors are still stuck in 70s eggs-cholesterol claptrap.
That's because the cross-section of a lipoprotein is not really covered in medical school, so they simply learn the very basic myths that have perpetuated the field. Ask your MD
how density of a lipoprotein is measured and the vast majority won't know the answer (other than stating the methods used, without understanding what exactly is being measured). Ask them
why the density is supposedly important and they'll spew the myths they were taught. Because they weren't adequately schooled in the cross section of lipoproteins and their fundamental biology, especially on a cellular level.
Here are the basics that most doctors don't know, and haven't bothered to subsequently educate themselves about:
All cholesterol is vital to survival. There is no such thing as bad cholesterol. Without it, we wouldn't have cellular integrity.
Cholesterol cannot move freely in the body because it is hydrophobic. It therefore requires a carrier. That carrier is called a lipoprotein, which cholesterol molecules bind to in order to move in the body.
Lipoproteins vary in density based on their ratio of lipids to proteins, hence how we are able to distinguish between Low Density Lipoproteins (LDl) and High Density Lipoproteins (HDL). It's the ratio that determines density.
These density variances are actually incredibly small. In the region of about 15% in density variance between the tiniest of lipoproteins to the largest. The real variance comes in size - in the magnitude of 1000s of times variances between them in terms of volume.
As they travel through the body, the shed triglycerides making them smaller and packed with more cholesterol
Both HDL and LDL are necessary. To simplify this, HDL carries energy to cells, and LDL cleans it up. LDL is actually needed to clear up our arteries, or we'd just be chock full of cholesterol all of the time. LDL is not bad in the body.
Most of the serious heart problems are caused by inflammation of the arterial wall, mostly caused by LDL attaching itself to sub-endothelium layers in the arterial walls. Note that it is not the cholesterol that's the problem. Cholesterol is simply carried on LDL particles, remember? It is the LDL itself. In addition, it's not the size that matters, it is the particle count.
So, cholesterol isn't the bad guy here - it's certain LDL particles that are. The cholesterol then remains behind and oxidises, at which point inflammation starts.
So what you want to reduce is the number of these LDL particles in your body, NOT necessarily cholesterol at all.
It is entirely possible and not uncommon to have low cholesterol, but a high number of LDL particles. It is also entirely possible and very common to have high cholesterol and a low LDL particle count. Therefore measuring cholesterol levels is of no real importance whatsoever. This measurement is what all docs perform, and make determinations based on this. Many people land up on statin drugs (cholesterol lowering) based on this alone. This is called LDL-C measurement.
It is wrong! Entirely wrong. What should be measured is LDL-P, which is the LDL particle count.
So the next time you're told that your cholesterol is high, or the next time someone says your LDL-C is high, tell them to fsck off. They measured the wrong flippen thing, and this is especially problematic if you're being placed on statin drugs to address it, as they have their own set of serious problems.
Demand an LDL-P measurement if you want to measure risk of heart disease. Don't rely on traditional cholesterol tests, and tell your doc to educate him/herself if they make any recommendations based on these overly-simplistic and entirely useless measurements.
Perhaps this needs its own thread?
