Lower cholesterol predicts worse infection in two studies
There may be no such thing as ‘bad’ cholesterol. LDL is called “bad cholesterol” but there’s little to no evidence that LDL hurts us, and there’s reason to believe that lowering LDL with either medications or a high polyunsaturated fat diet hurts our health. Just as it’s better to have high HDL than low HDL, recent studies on people hospitalized with coronavirus are consistent with numerous studies showing people with high LDL are healthier overall, including a superior ability to fight infection.
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Kobe Bryant
NBA baskeball player
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I would like to thank you for literally saving my life. Back in February, I had to be hospitalized while on vacation in Phoenix with an A1C of 11% and had to start taking 2 types of insulin and 2 other meds. I read the Fatburn Fix in April, and followed the program to a tee, and I’m down by 15 pounds, 6.8 A1C, and only one once weekly diabetes medicine. Prior to reading the book, it was almost impossible for me to lose weight as a diabetic.
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I feel free
For the last month, I have really been reading all labels on everything. I have completely remove those 8 oils you talk about. I must tell you, I feel great! I have more energy and I am now 197 lbs (have always been around 205 to 210lbs). I eat potatoes with real butter, grass fed steak, pasta with the right toppings. I eat everything! I seem to crave less sugar. I love it!
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I’ve lost 20+ pounds (also fasting 16-24 hours daily) and haven’t had palpitations except for one occasion — I had a mini bag of Fritos for the first time in July. And, I feel better now on a daily basis than I ever did all through college.
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I’ve lost over 50 pounds. I’m 56 years old. Cutting processed food and unhealthy fats from my diet was one of the first things I did on my health recovery journey...I went cold turkey off the bad oils. Emptied my pantry into the trash and just started eating real food
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Your Fatburn Fix book is amazing, my friend. Thank you! I’m an Functional Nutritional Therapy Practitioner and I know my stuff. This is the extra layer of knowledge I didn’t know I needed. Well done!
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Fatburn Fix reader
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I have lost a solid 20 lbs and my bloodwork (after 3 months of eating your way) was even better! I was metabolically healthy (per your book) before I read your book, but barely. Lowering my weight, sealed the deal! I have been talking about you and your book to anyone who will listen...Thank you for all you’ve done and what you continue to do! You are changing lives for the better!
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My waist is four inches smaller. I feel great and many of the minor aches and pains that I had (knees and lower back) are gone. Also, my muscle tone is amazing, even though I have not increased my workout routine.
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Completed Dr Cate's online course
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Whenever I advise my clients about eating to perform I go straight to what I have learned from Dr. Cate. Her book Deep Nutrition has become the go-to for strength and conditioning coaches across the country.
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Dismantles the lie
Dr. Cate dismantles the lie that seed oils are healthy, which may the biggest lie about nutrition and health because it’s so insidious.
Ken D Berry, MD
Author of Lies My Doctor Told Me
She knows the chemistry
Dr. Cate alerts us to the harms of seed oils and she’s convincing because she knows the chemistry better than anyone.
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Globally recognized internal medicine and addiction medicine specialist, media personality, LoveLine Host, and New York Times bestselling author
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Dr. Cate has had the single greatest impact on how we talk to people about fueling for both performance or durability. While we all are a little unique, the foundational principles of human nutrition are immutable. If you are looking to create a more durable, resilient body, no one is better at communicating nutritional truth than Dr. Cate.
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Physiotherapist coach and New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author
Highly recommend The Fatburn Fix
Dr. Shanahan has had a significant impact on my practice of medicine. I am known as a Low Carb Doctor, but I never really appreciated the negative effects of processed seed oils on the health of my patients. I highly recommend The Fatburn Fix to my patients and have a loaner copy in my waiting room. It is amazing how quickly blood sugars and overall health improves with cutting seed oils. It is not just about the carbs!
Dr. Brian Lenkzes, MD
CEO of LowCarbMD San Diego, co-host of Low Carb MD Podcast and host of Life's Best Medicine Podcast
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Dr. Cate reordered my diet when I was with the L.A. Lakers, and the benefits, for me personally, were felt immediately and have served me to this day. I’ve come to take real food so seriously I started a small family farm. I know of no M.D./nutritionist more respected in the sports world than Dr. Cate Shanahan.
Chris Kaman
NBA Player
Brought seed oil issue front and center
Cate brought the seed oil issue front and center. Healthy fats matter. So much so that I created an entire product line to swap out bad fats with good.
Mark Sisson
Founding Father of the Primal/Paleo Movement
Optimal health starts with food
If you want to understand how optimal health starts with food, start with Dr. Cate. Her book Deep Nutrition leaves you with an appreciation of the profound relationship between our genes and the planet, inspiring us to be good shepherds of both.
Dallas Hartwig
Attribution author of The Whole 30
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Dr Grewal Internal Medicine, MD, author of Genius Foods
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Dr. Shanahan has provided a solid reference that deserves a place in the library of anyone who is seriously interested in nutrition. Her perspective on the vital role that healthy fat has in our diet is novel and, if implemented, can radically improve your health.
Dr. Joseph Mercola
Author of Fat for Fuel and Founder of Mercola.com
Pull up a chair…
I have based my work on the idea that getting the right kinds of healthy fats into your body and avoiding the worst fats is essential to optimal health. I've interviewed dozens of the world's top experts about this, and I know of no one who speaks more eloquently on this topic than Dr Cate. If she’s talking fats, pull up a chair. Take notes.
Dave Asprey
Author of the Bulletproof Diet
The key to unlocking my fatburn
I love your Fatburn Fix! Has helped me so so much! I have had the dreaded weight all my life - 20 or so pounds I could never shed. I have lost that now. I only eat 2 meals a day lunch and dinner with a glass of milk or cappuccino around 4 to hold me over. No snacking and not bad oils. It has been the key to unlocking my fatburn.
Lauren Smith
Saved my life
I would like to thank you for literally saving my life. Back in February, I had to be hospitalized while on vacation in Phoenix with an A1C of 11% and had to start taking 2 types of insulin and 2 other meds. I read the Fatburn Fix in April, and followed the program to a tee, and I’m down by 15 pounds, 6.8 A1C, and only one once weekly diabetes medicine.
Leontyne Tompkins
> Tears of joy
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Study 1: Pre-infection Cholesterol Predicts Disease Severity
A March study in Wuhan, China compared pre infection cholesterol levels in hospitalized patients with mild versus severe coronavirus. Having a low HDL was a significant predictor, as was having a low total cholesterol (see chart). The study group was small, only 97 patients. The pre-infection cholesterol data was collected from information available in the public health system.
Study 2: Cholesterol Response Mirrors Immune System Function
An April study in Wuhan China extends the investigation into the connection between low cholesterol and worse outcome during coronavirus infection. This study on 21 patients looked back to check pre-infection cholesterol levels just like study number one above, and then they tracked what happened to cholesterol levels during the course of their infection. They found that cholesterol levels had dropped significantly at the time of admission, suggesting the body somehow ‘uses up’ cholesterol during infection. Interestingly, a distinguishing factor between the 17 who survived and the 4 who didn’t was found by tracking cholesterol during the hospital stay.
They found that those whose cholesterol levels went up during infection survived, while those whose cholesterol levels went down did not survive.
Why is Cholesterol Related to Severity of Coronavirus Infection?
Cholesterol helps stabilize the fats carried in lipoproteins. The authors suggest that oxidation reactions could explain the declining lipoprotein levels during infection. It appears that an inability to eventually gain control of the oxidation so that cholesterol levels can climb higher again may be a distinguishing feature between those who will recover and those who will not.
This is consistent with the idea that your response to coronavirus depends on the health of your body fat.
Slightly oxidation-prone body fat released into circulation during an infection may cause cholesterol levels to fall, disabling the immune system’s ability to seek and destroy virus and possibly making the difference between a person who can fight the infection at home and a person who needs to be hospitalized.
More severely oxidation prone body fat puts inflammation into overdrive, causing the worst complications of ARDS (fluid in the lungs), cytokine storm and the blood clots associated with stroke. These complications are not the virus itself, but what happens when an ineffective immune system combines with an out of control inflammatory response.
HDL 60+ Reflects Healthy Body Fat
These studies also confirm my own limited experience with patients suffering from severe coronavirus infections, all of whom had low HDL and followed a high-PUFA diet. In my experience, HDL reflects the health of your body fat more than any other single marker. And an HDL of 60+ seems to be a dividing line between those with inflammation prone body fat and those with healthy body fat.
A high-PUFA diet also makes your body fat pro-inflammatory. If your body fat is pro-inflammatory, your HDL goes down. If your body fat is healthy, your HDL stays high.
This Saturday, I’ll be discussing the connection between seed oil, low cholesterol, inflammation and sugar addiction in the upcoming Quit Sugar Summit.
Inflammation is not always a bad thing. In fact, our immune system fights off infections using inflammatory processes that kill foreign organisms invading the body. But on a modern diet a person fighting a serous infection like pneumonia is likely to suffer from an inability to control inflammation once it starts. When inflammation in your lungs gets out of control, fluid can fill your airways and you have extreme difficulty breathing.
How to Raise HDL
If you want to raise your HDL, all you need to do is start swapping out highly processed unstable seed oils, the 3Cs and the 3Ss on my list of good fats and bad, for stable, whole-food fats like those in butter and eggs or traditional cooking oils like olive and coconut or the other good fats on the list.
A few easy ways to add healthy fats into your diet:
Steam veggies and pour over melted butter, 1-2 Tbsp per person eating the veggies. If you want to get fancy, use compound butter.
With over two decades of clinical experience and expertise in genetic and biochemical research, Dr. Cate can help you to reverse metabolic disease and reshape your body.
Did you know that the cut off for "high" cholesterol used to be nearly twice as high as it is today? The number considered low enough has had to shift downward multiple times. Cholesterol-lowering “targets” are lower today than ever before. And lately, heart attacks are increasing.
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