U.S. government is poised to withdraw longstanding warnings about cholesterol

washingtonpost.com

10 pointsmaalyex3 comments

I'm still confused on what the thinking on saturated fat is. does anyone know? I keep hearing how healthy coconut oil is but isn't that saturated fat?

What about cream? Bacon?

Increased consumption does lead to higher levels of cholesterol, but the link between high levels of cholesterol and heart disease is (at this point) questionable.

Most of the studies about the latter link have been done around the time when scientists did not distinguish between HDL and LDL, and currently the scientific status quo progressed towards recognizing two sub-types of LDL - big fluffy one (harmless) and tiny one (plaque-forming and dangerous). As there's no good way to measure fluffy vs tiny LDL, there's no good studies on it either.

The book "Good Calories, Bad Calories" provides a good overview.

The popular press is completely useless regarding nutritional science -- every study is reported in absolutist and exagerated fashion. But even the science is in pretty poor shape, as this move points out. Expert consensus as embodied in recommendations like the cholesterol limit are founded on the basis of slim evidence and maintained by inertia.

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