Several studies have suggested that the keto diet can affect cholesterol levels. When people consume low amounts of carbohydrates, the liver produces fewer triglycerides, which may be involved in raising HDL cholesterol levels and decreasing LDL Cholesterol levels. Let\’s look at what Dr. Berry has to say about Keto\’s Effect On Cholesterol.
Dr. Ken Berry\’s Take
Dr. Ken Berry is affiliated with Henry County Medical Center in Tennessee, US. He has an extremely popular youtube channel with over 1 Million Subscribers across the globe.
Dr. Ken Berry is the author of the bestseller \”Lies My Doctor Told Me\” which exposes myths and misleading health advice from well-meaning doctors, such as avoiding fat. He himself embraces the Ketogenic diet and often is seen terming Keto as the Proper & Natural Human Diet.
Elevated Cholesterol Is Not Dangerous
So research is quickly emerging showing that having an elevated cholesterol level is not dangerous. It doesn\’t increase your risk of heart attack or stroke or cause heart disease or dementia. And I\’ve got multiple YouTube videos about this subject with links to the research in the show notes. The take-home message here is if your cholesterol level is a little bit high, that\’s not dangerous. That\’s not bad. It\’s not worrisome. It doesn\’t make you feel bad. It\’s actually probably good for you. And especially in women, if they have high cholesterol, they actually live longer.
Dr. Berry mentions that elevated levels of cholesterol aren\’t dangerous. He adds that high cholesterol doesn\’t cause Heart Attack, Stroke, Heart Disease, or Dementia at all. Dr. says that he has uploaded multiple videos talking about the same issue with links to various research as well. He says that this is probably good for you and not worrisome and if women have high cholesterol they live longer.
What The Focus Should Be On
Everyone should stop worrying about having elevated cholesterol. It is not dangerous. What you want to focus on is having a normal hemoglobin A1C, having a normal C-peptide having normal triglycerides, and having a normal HDL cholesterol. Those are the most important markers of optimal health. Do not worry about your total cholesterol or your LDL cholesterol, they are not of any concern to you. I promise.
Dr. Berry believes that one should focus on having a normal Hemoglobin A1C, C-Peptide, Triglycerides, and HDL. He adds that these are the most important markers of optimal health and other things are not of any concern.
LDL Is Not Bad For You
So when there\’s actually research that was done in the United States, back in the sixties and seventies, that showed without a doubt that that high LDL levels are not that big of a deal, but that did not fit with the current fad in medicine to say that that cholesterol is bad fats, bad saturated, fat is bad, and we should all try to lower our, our LDL cholesterol. So the research either didn\’t get published or didn\’t get talked about. And so now that we\’re going back and looking at all the research, we find that, that an elevated LDL cholesterol, if it\’s a risk factor for heart attack at all, it\’s a very tiny risk factor of much.
Dr. Berry mentions that there were actual research showing that High LDL isn\’t that big of a deal but because the current medicine trends suggest fats are bad hence it\’s exaggerated. He adds that going through the research, it\’s quite evident that an elevated LDL is not even a risk factor for a heart attack, it\’s rather harmless.
What Causes Heart Attack If Not Cholesterol?
Having an elevated A1C being pre-diabetic or diabetic is a 10 times greater risk for heart attack than having an elevated LDL. Having high triglycerides, and having a low HDL is a 10 times greater risk for having a heart attack than having an elevated LDL. So what I want people to worry about are the most important things first. So the first thing I want you to worry about is getting your blood sugar back to normal, getting your A1C back to normal, and getting your triglycerides back to normal.
Dr. Ken says that having an Elevated A1c when you\’re pre-diabetic or diabetic is 10 times greater risk for a heart attack than having an elevated LDL. He adds that having High triglycerides and Low LDL is a risk of having a heart attack. Dr. suggests one should worry about the crucial things being normal Blood Sugar and A1C.
How LDL Is Villainized
So when we talk about LDL cholesterol, we have to understand that these two lab values have been unnecessarily villainized for the last 30-40 years. All of that evolved in an atmosphere of people being very afraid of saturated fats. We had just come up with the horror that eating saturated fat and eating fat would raise your cholesterol. And that having high cholesterol was bad for your health and that we should take medications to lower your cholesterol level. These are all hypotheses. They have never been proven. And indeed, anytime we\’ve done a randomized controlled trial to try to prove to them that a randomized controlled trial is proved the opposite.
And some of that research was hidden. It just wasn\’t published because it wasn\’t popular at that time. It didn\’t fit their fad Medical model or a nutrition model. So they just, they either published it in some obscure journal or they just didn\’t publish it at all. And we\’re now rediscovering these randomized control trials that were actually done comparing, eating animal fat versus eating, unsaturated, polyunsaturated fats. And in every one of these randomized controlled trials, the polyunsaturated fat was less healthy. More dangerous than just eating animal fat.
Dr. Berry mentions how LDL has been villainized for the past 30-40 years, just because it has an atmosphere of people being afraid of it. He adds that he has conducted various trials to prove it wrong and has succeeded too but because they did not fit the Fad Medical Model, it eas either hidden or unpublished. Dr. says that now that everybody is looking at those researches they see how untrue the myths around Cholesterol are.
How Fat is Good For You
Most doctors, dieticians, nutritionists, and healthcare gurus believed in their hearts, that eating saturated fat is bad for you. Eating cholesterol is terrible for you and having a high cholesterol level in your blood was bad for you. But now when we go back and look at the totality of the research with this fresh paradigm that maybe eating fat is good for us. And maybe having high cholesterol is not necessarily bad, maybe it\’s actually good. In many ways. When you look at the research with that fresh paradigm, you immediately start to see with fresh eyes. Oh, well, yeah, actually having high total cholesterol seems to be very protective against cancer, actually, people seem to live longer with a high cholesterol level. And so at that point, you have to, we, what we have to do is re-question everything that we thought we knew.
Dr. Berry mentions that most doctors, dieticians, nutritionists, and healthcare gurus believed in their hearts, that eating fat is bad for you but when the research are seen, it\’s not that bad. He adds that fat is good for you in many ways and even protects you against cancer and makes you live longer. Dr. says that everybody has to basically re-question everything.
How Science Progresses
If you look back at scientific history, we will go down a road for 80 years believing this certain scientific fact is true. And then all of a sudden, some crazy new scientist comes out and says, you know what? I think all that\’s wrong. We\’re going to have to go back and re-examine all that. That\’s how science progresses through the ages. And I think we\’re all right in the middle of this happening right now with the diet, heart hypothesis, the cholesterol hypothesis, and the saturated fat is bad for your hypothesis. I think we\’re having to re-examine it and redo all that, which is very exciting.
Dr. Berry says that while looking back at scientific history, people may believe something is true and all of the sudden new research emerges and that becomes untrue. He adds that we are in the midst of that happening and we have to re-examine and re-do it all which is very exciting.
Re-examining It All
For average people who don\’t get excited when there\’s controversy in the scientific literature, they just want to know what to do right. Scientists are very often wrong scientists. And an honest scientist or an honest doctor is very happy to admit, that hey, I got it wrong, we need to go back and re-examine all that. And I think that people are starting to see hints of that in the medical and nutrition community, and indeed in the scientific community that we got that wrong.
Dr. mentions that average people just want to know what\’s the right thing to do. He says that honest Scientists will admit that they are wrong and will re-examine it all. Dr. adds that people are starting to see hints of that in the medical and nutrition community, and indeed in the scientific community that we got that wrong.
Keto And Cholesterol
So if you averaged all that up, the ketogenic way of eating or the proper human diet would have no effect on their cholesterol overall. There is a subset of people who eat keto, their cholesterol seems to go up, but the question should be on everybody\’s mind and their lips are yes, my cholesterol went up but is that truly dangerous? Is that truly harmful or does my body need a higher cholesterol level in order to be optimally healthy? And I think as time goes on, we\’re going to see that question answered in the affirmative. Yes. It\’s actually healthy that your cholesterol went up. It\’s actually a good thing, not a bad or a dangerous thing.
Dr. Berry says that Keto would not affect cholesterol at all. He says that there may be some people who see elevated Cholesterol while at it. He adds that the question should be is high cholesterol bad for or optimally healthy. Dr. believes that as time goes on, we\’re going to see that question answered in the affirmative. He says that people are going to know that it\’s healthy that your cholesterol went up and not dangerous.
Here\’s the full video of Dr. Berry\’s take on Keto\’s Effect On Cholesterol:
In a nutshell, the keto diet may not have as detrimental an effect on your cholesterol as some have thought. When you review the data and researches backed up by Renowned Doctors, a couple of things are clear. Looking at the population studies and clinical trials, the impact the keto diet has on lipids is modest. So one can absolutely start the keto diet under guidance, and while consulting an expert.
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