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Bad is Good

A health study by Japanese researchers has found that people with low levels of LDL cholesterol — often referred to as “bad cholesterol” — are more likely to die than those with higher levels.

More. Thanks to Pearl Alexander.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008 at 3:03 pm and is filed under nutrition, self-experimentation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “Bad is Good”

  1. Varangy Says:
    April 2nd, 2008 at 4:46 pm

    Great post.

    While I am suspicious of all studies, even ones that confirm my POV/biases, I think this study ultimately leads to what I got from Taubes’ book and others.

    We simply do not know if the Lipid Hypothesis is valid, nor if cholesterol levels, or accompanying levels of lipoproteins signal/indicate anything. And if they do, how to interpret them as markers.

    I suggest this to people at cocktail parties and am always roundly laughed at. No one ever takes me up on my (perhaps Aspergian) offer to provide them with reading materials that may enlighten them.

    My guess is that we have suffered a lot from the mis-information cascades of the low-fat diet and the lipid hypothesis — and as humans, as long as we remain intellectually arrogant, will continue to in nutrition and other fields.

  2. Aaron Blaisdell Says:
    April 3rd, 2008 at 6:39 am

    I thought ALL people were 100% likely to die. If you strictly interpret the text above (“A health study by… … with higher levels”), it suggests there are a bunch of immortals walking around Japan.

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