Modern medicine is obsessed with cholesterol. This is based on the erroneous assumption that cholesterol is the cause of atherosclerosis, which in turn is the cause of cardiovascular disease. While evidence does show that changes in lipoprotein concentrations in the blood are associated with cardiovascular disease, the cause and effect in this relationship has been deliberately obfuscated for financial gain by large corporations and the food industry.
Cholesterol Testing
Testing and ‘treating’ high cholesterol levels is big business for the pharmaceutical companies. Their propaganda model has convinced the general population that dietary cholesterol is bad and that regular testing of cholesterol levels, followed by treatment by statin drugs is effective at reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease. However, evidence suggest that statins do not decrease mortality, and so their use is controversial, even ignoring their vicious side effects.
Beans And Oats Lower Cholesterol Levels
Legumes and oats have been extensively researched for their ability to lower cholesterol levels. In this regard they are far more effective than statins drugs because they lower cholesterol levels while producing no side effects. Both oats and legumes are effective in this regard because they contain high concentrations of soluble fibre. Soluble fibre works in multiple ways to control blood sugar levels, errant levels of which are the actual cause of cardiovascular disease.
Cause Versus Symptoms
Statin drugs lower plasma cholesterol levels by inhibiting one of the enzymes that synthesises cholesterol. This forces down cholesterol levels. However, the elevated cholesterol levels result from an underlying metabolic dysfunction that is not treated by the drugs. Legumes and oats lower cholesterol because the soluble fibre they contain reverses the hypoglycaemia and metabolic dysfunction that is the cause of elevated cholesterol levels.
Is Fibre An Essential Dietary Component
The efficacy of soluble dietary fibre to reverse the metabolic dysfunction associated with eating a Western disease has lead to speculation that fibre might be an essential dietary component. Fibre may be required for the correct metabolism of glucose. Diets high in refined grains and sugar may therefore cause metabolic syndrome which is the cause of cardiovascular disease. Because statin drugs do not reverse metabolic syndrome they are not effective at treating cardiovascular disease.
RdB