Heart Attacks and Cholesterol: Purely a Question of Diet

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To achieve the cholesterol level necessary to prevent heart attacks, most people must take cholesterol-lowering drugs—or eat a plant-based diet.

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Having a total cholesterol under 200, or an LDL under 130, reduces your risk, but, as the editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Cardiology wrote more than a decade ago now, it’s time to shift “from decreasing risk to actually preventing and arresting atherosclerosis.”

In an editorial last year, the editor-in-chief advocated for an LDL under 60; a total cholesterol under 150. “Whether or not we are willing to alter our diet sufficiently and/or to spend the money necessary to obtain the lipid-lowering drugs [the statins], and then take them religiously to achieve this goal is up to us.”

“For the plaque buildup in our arteries to cease, it appears that the serum total cholesterol needs to be lowered to the 150 area. In other words the serum total cholesterol must be lowered to that of the average pure vegetarian. Because relatively few persons are willing to abide by the vegetarian lifestyle, lipid-lowering drugs are required in most to reach the [target] 150 level.”

To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by veganmontreal.

Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.

Having a total cholesterol under 200, or an LDL under 130, reduces your risk, but, as the editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Cardiology wrote more than a decade ago now, it’s time to shift “from decreasing risk to actually preventing and arresting atherosclerosis.”

In an editorial last year, the editor-in-chief advocated for an LDL under 60; a total cholesterol under 150. “Whether or not we are willing to alter our diet sufficiently and/or to spend the money necessary to obtain the lipid-lowering drugs [the statins], and then take them religiously to achieve this goal is up to us.”

“For the plaque buildup in our arteries to cease, it appears that the serum total cholesterol needs to be lowered to the 150 area. In other words the serum total cholesterol must be lowered to that of the average pure vegetarian. Because relatively few persons are willing to abide by the vegetarian lifestyle, lipid-lowering drugs are required in most to reach the [target] 150 level.”

To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by veganmontreal.

Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.

 

 

Doctor's Note

Be sure to check out all my other videos on heart disease and statins.

For more context, check out my associated blog posts: Generic Lipitor is not the answer to our heart disease epidemicThe Most Anti-Inflammatory MushroomPreventing and Treating Kidney Failure With DietStool Size and Breast Cancer Risk; and Cholesterol Lowering in a Nut Shell.

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