A study out of Norway looked at 50,000 people, both men and women, who had high total cholesterol. After following them for many years, it was discovered that it made absolutely no difference in rates of heart disease. In fact, for the women, if you had high cholesterol, your heart was actually better!
Join Dr. Martin as he unpacks this study in today’s episode. Dr. Martin can’t help but shake his head that it’s been 50+ years and we’re still having to talk about cholesterol. Cholesterol doesn’t cause heart disease. It never did.
TRANSCRIPT OF TODAY'S EPISODE
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Dr. Martin: Well, good morning everyone, and once again, welcome to another live this morning. Hope you're doing well. We are. Hope you've had your vitamin C because I'm actually going to mention a study on vitamin C, and so. Okay, a study, 50,000 people in Norway over many years followed them and people that had high total cholesterol, okay? In men made absolutely no difference in heart disease. None. Okay? And in women, listen to this. Okay? In women, out of those 50,000, the women they follow, the ones with the higher total cholesterol lived longer, plus they had decrease in heart disease. Men, no effect, women, if you had high cholesterol, your heart was actually better.
I shake my head, guys, I shake my head that we've gone down this road for so long, 50 years or more, more than that. Here we are today still having to talk about cholesterol, but when the studies, when they really look at it, they can't connect cholesterol to heart disease. And haven't I been telling you that for a long time? The problem isn't cholesterol. Blaming cholesterol is like blaming the police because they're at the crime scene. Blaming cholesterol is like blaming the firemen because they're at the scene of a fire. They're the good guys. Cholesterol is the good guy, not the bad guy. Cholesterol is not the devil. It's the good guy. Yeah, it happens to be around in your blood vessels. What do you expect? What do you expect? Do you know that you can't even absorb vitamin D properly without cholesterol?
And you know me, I always say, God don't trust you. Okay? It's almost like God could see into the future and say, you won't believe what's going to happen from the 1970s on. They're going to blame cholesterol for heart disease and they're going to develop a medication, a classification of meds called statin drugs. And by the time you hit 50 or 60 years old, more than half the population will be on them. And it's huge revenue for the pharmaceuticals. But time after time, after time, when they really do studies, they find out that it has not made a dent. Heart disease guys is going like this. Cholesterol medication is going like this. It hit over a trillion dollars in sales. A trillion. Man, oh man, okay.
In Canada, our national debt went over a trillion, I think about a year, maybe two years ago. Took all those years for Canada's debt to get to a trillion, okay? And we're what, 35 million people? 40 million people here in Canada. But statin drugs have hit the trillion dollar revenue mark. Like holy smokes, talk about a success in marketing. Statin drugs. Doctors, I love them, I mean it, I do. They scare the life out of people. Your cholesterol is high. You're going to have a heart attack. And what research is showing when your cholesterol is high, you are going to live longer. "Hey, doc, what about LDL? Doesn't the L stand for loser, loser, cholesterol?" No, it doesn't. Low density lipo protein. Your body needs it. It's a huge part of your detox. It's a huge part of your immune system. And you've only had to listen to a few of my podcasts to know what I talk about all the time. And that is your hdl, which is very specific to take your triglycerides, bad lipids.
Now, triglycerides on their own are not bad unless they're high. Unless they're high. If you got high triglycerides and low hdl, you're in big doo doo. Now you're itching for a heart attack. High cholesterol and low triglycerides. 50,000 people study in Norway, and it shocked them. It didn't shock me, but it shocked them because when they realized looking at cholesterol, it's looking for love in all the wrong places, they got it wrong. And I just will say this, don't hold your breath for this to change anytime soon when it comes to medicine, it is so entrenched in medical thinking. It is so foundational, and you can understand.
Here's the marketing, okay? Marketing takes place in two ways, okay? One, they go after the consumer. So pharmaceutical companies are very smart, okay? They're very smart people that do their marketing. They're not stupid people. They're good at it. So what they do is they go after the public. Cholesterol is bad and it's out there. They team up with the food companies. And the food companies love it because they're into low fat. They're into cholesterol's no good. Every cereal company in the world loves the cholesterol hopes. They love it. So they market that way to the general public.
And secondly, what they're even better at is marketing to the medical schools and publications. To medical doctors for those who bother to read. And they pump it out and pump it out and pump it out. And then Dr. Joe in his office or her office, when they get blood work back, they're looking at the wrong numbers. They've been trained. What's your total cholesterol? And when you send your numbers to me, I'm happy to look at it for you guys, but don't ask me to comment on total cholesterol. I won't do it. "Doc, what do you think about my LDL?" I don't think anything about it. "Well my doctor said, I'm going to have a heart attack." Yeah, I know. And I don't like to go against your doctor. I don't. It's not my favorite sport, but it drives me crazy. The research is unreal, but they're not hearing it. They're not hearing it.
There's a few converts out there, a few cardiologists, and they're converts. They said, we've been wrong. I remember a cardiologist telling me that. I've been wrong for a long time now. I was nice about it. I wasn't rubbing it in. I really wasn't. I said, yeah, like it's pretty incredible that they wanted to put statin drugs in the drinking water in England. If the pharmaceutical companies, they'd hand out, if they could statin drugs at McDonald's or every fast food chain. Eat what you feel like and here's a statin drug afterwards, we'll lower your cholesterol. But you see the issue is physiology. Okay? It's the issue. It's biochemistry because they made cholesterol, the boogeyman, and it's amazing to me.
I can't remember if I learned this in even starting in high school, probably. I don't remember if it was high school, but I sure remember in nutrition and taking biochemistry and physiology, the importance of cholesterol. What? Well, yeah, because 85% of your cholesterol comes naturally, 85% of it, your body makes it. It's not a waste product. It's not like your body's trying to get rid of it. Your body's not trying to get rid of cholesterol. Your body is making cholesterol every day, seven days a week. Whether you eat properly or not. Your body is making cholesterol. Why is that? Well, holy smokes your cells, every cell in your body has cholesterol. Every cell in your body, your brain. If someone calls you fathead, it's a compliment.
That's one of the biggest problems in society today. We got away from eating fat cause we thought it was bad. And now we have skinny brains. You don't want a skinny brain. You want a fat brain. Your neurotransmitters need fat to operate. They need cholesterol, so your body makes it 85%. Like I said, my saying is, God don't trust us. Man has a tendency to be stupid. No, we do. Okay? Cholesterol's bad. They want us off animal products. Why? Well, two things. They say, one, the climate. They want to get rid of cows because of their flatulence. They want us to eat bugs. And their meatless craze. Guys, don't buy it. It ain't true. Cholesterol is essential. The cholesterol you eat is only found in the animal kingdom.
You know there's no cholesterol in the plant kingdom? None. And people go, well, isn't that good, doc? I'm having oatmeal in the morning, doc, cause it's lowering my cholesterol. I used to get guys come into the office all the time and tell me that. I said, how do you start your day? Oatmeal, I need my oats. I said, you're not a horse. Horses eat oats. You don't. Well, doc, there's a heart on the box. Quaker Oats has a heart on the box. I said, I know when you eat it, you're going to have a heart attack. "Oh, doc, it lowers my cholesterol," I know. Isn't that stupid? People used to look at me. I'm telling you like I had two heads. Is this guy for real? Yeah. I said, I'm for real. And I've been preaching the same thing since the cows came home.
Guys, I can't bend even an inch on cholesterol. I can't. Your body makes 85% of it. God wants you to chip in 15%. It's not much. In Norway, they found out the higher than cholesterol, the longer you live. I don't know how many podcasts I've got, but I betcha I had never gone a week without talking about cholesterol. To some extent, it is so pervasive in our society. It is so ingrained into thinking into medical schools, into the doctor's office when they take out that pen and paper and they write a prescription. My word, and I never question their motives. Motives, I don't question. Doctors got into medicine to help people. Well, the vast majority did. Right? Man, how can you forget your biochemistry so easily? "Yeah, but doc, it's LDL cholesterol. Low density lipoprotein. Isn't that bad?" No, it's not bad. Your body makes it. You need it. It helps to repair. It helps to transport all your hormones.
I tell you, one of the biggest problems, okay, that women have, okay? And ladies, I don't mean to pick on you, but because you guys know better, my audience knows better. But let me tell you what goes on in the world out there. Go to the grocery store and look at the stuff that's fat free. Why is it fat free? Well, fat makes you fat. Fat gives you cholesterol and the whole world, especially women, they went for it. It started in the 70's with butter and margarine, and it started with cereal and then yogurt. Yogurt came and it was like the best thing in the world was yogurt, okay? Fat free yogurt. And then women starting in the 70's, but really hitting the 80s and 90s. "Salad, Dr. Martin, I eat salad and maybe a little chicken and salad."
I was in my office and I had to be tied down just about. I said, you've been lied to. It's not true. Salad. "Dr. Martin, there's no fat. There's no cholesterol in salad." That's true, but that don't make it good for you. That actually makes it bad for you. But Dr. Martin chicken and not the fatty chicken that is the boneless and the fat less chicken and doc, I only have one or two eggs a week because my doctor said. I had splitting headaches all day long listening to that stuff, and I felt sorry for my patients. They just didn't know any better. I said, how do you start your day? Oh, granola and yogurt, fat-free yogurt. They thought it was the breakfast of champions. I said, that's a breakfast for losers.
Aren't you glad you never came to my office? I had fun. I loved my patients. I did, but you had to get ready for my sense of humor. Okay, Janet saying, I better get on cortisol. You're right. I'm telling you, I don't need a workout after this program. I just get so uptight when I hear nonsense. I can't stand it. I just... No guys, look, I just want to tell you, I know we're in the minority here. Okay? You and I are in the minority, but doesn't mean we're not right, okay? We're on the narrow road that leads to life. Jesus even said it, okay? Don't get on the broad road because everybody's on it. There is a way that seems right unto man, but the end thereof is the ways of death. That's cholesterol, my friend. When you have low cholesterol.
Man, marketing is unreal, isn't it? The generation now, okay, my parents, my generation, my kids and my grandchildren, okay? All been affected by a lie. Four generations. And the fifth one is coming to a theater near you. It's four generations now that have been lied to about cholesterol. I wonder if anything will change in Norway. I doubt it. I doubt it. Okay, guys, I'm breathing, I promise, okay? I just took a deep breath. Okay? I got my heart racing. I got excited. I admit it, but I can't help myself.
Okay, guys, we got a great week still to come. We appreciate your faithfulness to this program. We really, really do. We thank you for making it the number one podcast in health in Canada. That's a big accomplishment. That's you guys. You guys have done that. Guys, I'm going to have an announcement about Sun, Steak and Steel, my new book, maybe even by the end of the week, I'll be able to give you a definite date on its arrival. It's coming. It's been a slow process, but anyway. Okay, guys, did I tell you, even though I pontificate like I do, did I tell you how much I love you in that pontification? I didn't. Well, I do. I really do. I love you guys, and I appreciate you so much. Talk to you soon.
Announcer: You've reached the end of another Doctor Is In Podcast, with your hosts, Doctor Martin Junior and Senior. Be sure to catch our next episode and thanks for listening!