We are so brainwashed about dietary saturated fat and LDL that you will be astonished to learn there is absolutely no LDL / Saturated fat link. Zero. Yes! that’s right. There is no link between saturated fat and cholesterol containing LDL particles. Explanations coming up.
When you eat any dietary fat, saturated, monounsaturated or polyunsaturated, it is broken down in the intestine, by the action of bile, like a detergent, which was made in the liver and delivered via the gallbladder. The processed fat is then packed into a large lipoproteins called chylomicrons. If there is no bile, the fat is passed straight through the gut and pooped.
These chylomicrons then travel through the thoracic duct directly into the blood. Because blood is water based, and fats don’t mix with water, fats travel in lipoproteins (think boats). These chylomicrons travel around the body releasing fat wherever it is needed. When they are largely spent, they become chylomicron remnants and are absorbed out of the blood by the liver where they are broken down.
Note, they haven’t interacted with LDL at all.
From the carbohydrates you eat, all fructose and any excess glucose is converted to fatty acids in the liver by a process called De novo lipogenesis. This is the primary way your body disposes of excess blood glucose which is toxic. These dietary high carbohydrate sources include bread, rice, sugar, pasta, honey, cake, fruit, grains, flour, and pastry. Most ultra-processed foods are high in carbohydrate.
Your liver manufactures Very Low-Density Lipoproteins (VLDL), fills them with fatty acids (fat) and cholesterol and sends them around the body to deliver fatty acids to fat cells, or adipose tissue (think belly and bum fat). VLDL particles are also known as triglycerides. A VLDL receptor sticking out from a fat cell into the blood, latches onto the passing lipoprotein and harvests the fatty acid.
As the VLDL particle (lipoprotein) loses its fatty acids, it reduces in size until it is the size we recognize as a Low-Density Lipoprotein (LDL) particle, usually with cholesterol still on board. Cells can harvest these when they need cholesterol.
So LDL’s are actually the result of VLDL’s (triglycerides) made in the liver then shrinking down to the LDL size. Cholesterol is carried in the LDL and other particles. Excess LDL particles are reabsorbed by the liver.
Eat more carbohydrates and VLDL (triglycerides) production goes up, so LDL goes up. Eat more fats/saturated fats then VLDL goes down so LDL goes down. Strangely the opposite of what we are told.
Before adopting a higher fat, low carb, keto diet, my triglycerides were 2.9 mmol/L (US units 257 mg/dL) The recommended level is < 1.7 mmol/L (< 150 mg/dL). After two years on keto, they had dropped to 0.7 mmol/L. (62 mg/dL). Much healthier.
Get free nutrition guidance or my book at www.takebackyrhealth.com. Seek professional medical advice before dietary changes, particularly if on medication. George Elder, Diet Research Reviewer, Diploma in Nutrition. “The best thing you can do for your health is eat better”.
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