If you have a heart attack and survive it, you are likely to find that the meal that is delivered to your hospital bed will be free of ALL fat.     

Your heart may be just as unhappy with the offering as your taste buds.         

 A high fat binge protects the heart 

•  Rats fed a “healthy” diet i.e. grains and vegetables  
•  Rats fed a high fat diet for 6 weeks  
•  Rats fed a high fat diet for less than 2 weeks

Following the heart attack the researchers examined how well the hearts were functioning and the extent of the damage.     Those on the high fat splurge, had 70 % less damage than the other two groups.         

So does it only apply to rats ?           

What doctors don’t always tell you   

Actually, there are a few studies that have suggested that the odds of surviving a heart attack, are better if your serum cholesterol levels are sky high.    But the idea has never really been explored, because the focus is always on blaming the high cholesterol for the heart attack.        

Could cholesterol be mother nature’s band aid ?   

A quick recap on basic physiology of cholesterol…..   Cholesterol is packaged in particles called LDL (low density lipoproteins) by the liver, these particles are then sent out to the rest of the body, to provide cholesterol for the cells.            

Cells need the cholesterol for a range of things – if a cell doesn’t get enough it will die.  They have special receptors, which catch the LDL particles and bring the cholesterol inside of the cell, to be used.  Among the jobs cholesterol does is patching up and organizing membranes.          

Heart cells will be badly damaged following a heart attack, so the availability of extra cholesterol could make all the difference to the heart cell being able to recover from the damage.          

LDL cholesterol falsely accused ?   

High levels of LDL are seen as the underlying problem and the first point of attack when metabolic disturbances surface.       

 But basic physiology suggests the sky high levels are a symptom, not the cause of the problem.  High cholesterol is indicative of blood vessel stress, but cutting off the cholesterol supply, is not  ” fixing” the real problem.         

Deal with the “real” problem   

Blood vessels are the “real” problem.   They are being damaged by disturbances in the insulin and sugar levels, which stops the blood vessels from protecting themselves from oxidative stress.   Beating cardiovascular disease begins with reining in insulin and dialling down the oxidative stress.        

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 Further reading

Insulin steers the assembly of killer blood clots	The side effects of obesity stopped by omega-3s	Stop blaming fats for making you fat, the obesity problem is in grains

Balance Eicosanoids	Rein in insulin	Dial down stress	Sleep !	Increase Vit D	Culivate microflora	Think champion

 Hire Dr Sandy from a Spoonful of Science to be the keynote speaker at your next event.             

Did you learn something new or do you have a different perspective ? I’d love to hear from you so post me a comment below…..