Oats Lower Cholesterol: Maybe?

I'm glad they were forced to change their advertising. There's enough confusion and misinformation floating around with the marketers mudding the waters like this.

Brian

Thanks for this great post. Coincidentally everyone is just now discussing this very issue - is oatmeal hype - in the Mark's Daily Apple forum. I'm going to share this link with everyone. Thanks for the info! :)

I am shocked by those numbers... I have a combined cholesteral of 135.... and I eat like garbage half the time... it must take a lot of hard work to get to 190...

Erica said:
I am shocked by those numbers... I have a combined cholesteral of 135.... and I eat like garbage half the time... it must take a lot of hard work to get to 190... [...]

Genetics have a huge part in it. 240 can be as healthy for someone else as your 135.

I think it's only necessary to force Quaker to change it. Quaker seems to be more concerned with their popularity than the quality of their product.

genetics can be a really big factor in some people's cholesterol level. i have a combined total of approx. 230, a lot of which is the good kind of cholesterol. the doctor said that i have an unusually high level of it and that i shouldnt be concerned that my total is higher than what is conventionally thought as being healthy.

some tidbits of information: nobody in my family has weight issues, has or has had heart disease, but we all seem to have a high cholesterol count.

medical facts and categories, like all facts and categories, are never absolute and always subject to change.

If your cholesterol is high but you keep your triglycerides low, you can seriously reduce your risk of a heart condition, and keeping triglycerides low is so much easier than lowering cholesterol - reduce carb, reduce triglycerides.

jean said:
medical facts and categories, like all facts and categories, are never absolute and always subject to change.[...]

Also, cholesterol just does not cause heart disease. Only individuals with genetic conditions that cause them to create truly huge amounts of cholesterol should worry about lowering it, and they are quite rare.

There is a link between cholesterol and heart disease, but it is very weak. Cholesterol is one of the most important substances in your body. You make Vitamin D, hormones, bile salts, and other things from it. Whenever you get a cut, cholesterol is what allows you to not bleed to death. When you eat something your body doesn't like, it causes a wound in your arteries, and cholesterol is needed to heal it. The result is a piece of scar tissue, a "clog". Lowering cholesterol is only treating the symptom, not the cause (poor diet).

There is one type of cholesterol that has the potential to cause problems though. There is a class of small, dense LDL particles that can get stuck in artery walls and become rancid. A straight-up HDL/LDL count though is just about useless.

It's not surprising that brands like Quaker are willing to go all the way for the sake of popularity. They didn't realize that their competitors and other groups monitors their activities and it's obvious that they are not concerned with their customers.

I have a new question about LDL and HDL Cholesterol. Is LDL really bad? Is HDL Really good? Well, there are something that may surprise you and one theory may mean that it may be in fact the opposite.

But first things first. LDL is produced by the liver and comes from the liver. HDL goes to the liver. So, here's my question:

Where is the source for HDL Cholesterol?
Quite Iranically, I know more about LDL cholesterol than HDL cholesterol, because we know that LDL is produced by the liver, some by VLDL cholesterol.

Now, I go to the theory. The first one may be true that HDL cholesterol is the so-called good cholesterol. As you exercise, your HDL raises up, because your muscles are producing HDL cholesterol which enables this cholesterol to discard the plaques in the arteries, as well as other waste to the liver for it to be stored. Your HDL cholesterol may also be produced by your pancreas to do the work of removing waste, including arterial plaque from your system.

Now, this second theory may prove otherwise that HDL is good and LDL is bad. Your liver produces VLDL cholesterol and this cholesterol collects the nutrients and proteins, as well as the "real" cholesterol. This then goes into the bloodstream. This LDL cholesterol is traveled to a hungry cell in the body. Once the nutrients from the LDL is passed on to the cell, the LDL changes to HDL and is brought back to the liver as waste. HDL may be made from the muscles because the muscle is out of oxygen and has to be brought back to the liver. This then clearely mean that LDL is actually good because it provides food for the muscles and HDL cholesterol is just waste that must be disposed from the body.

So, we must test the feces. If the feces has high amounts of HDL cholesterol, than this proves the theory that HDL is the waste cholesterol and the LDL is the food cholesterol. So, the real bad cholesterol could be oxidised LDL and HDL cholesterol. By the way, HDL may also be bad, because HDL travels nearest to the wall of the artery going back to the liver.

And by the way, HDL and LDL cholesterol isn't really cholesterol, it's actually fat and protein (lipoprotein), stringed together. Cholesterol is an animal sterol that is part of an animal cell. Therefore, your skin contains cholesterol, your organ contains cholesterol, and your brain is made up of entirely cholesterol and saturated fat.

But given that LDL may be good and HDL may be bad, the exercising and consumption of vegetables will continue. All I am saying that there needs to be more research towards LDL and HDL, and the answer on how we produce HDL.

James - I feel I must try to answer some your comments. I am by no means a biological scientist, however I feel your theories are somewhat confused.

How is cholesterol made?
Cholesterol is primarily synthesized through a pathway in the cells and tissues, with only 20–25% occurring in the liver; (also synthesized in the intestines, adrenal glands and reproductive organs), or it comes from our diet (via LDL).

How is HDL produced?
The lipoproteins, which make up HDL, pick up cholesterol in the body. An enzyme (LCAT) then converts the free cholesterol into a cholesteryl ester, this eventually makes a newly synthesized HDL.

HDL will then move through the blood, increasing in size as they take up more cholesterol, eventually delivering it to the liver for excretion from the body.

Simply put - HDL's role is to transport cholesterol, from the cells to the liver, for excretion from the body. LDL does the opposite, transporting cholesterol to the arteries.

To answer some of your comments:
1) Without a doubt cholesterol is required in our bodies for normal cell function. It is not "bad" in and of itself, but rather how and where it is transported in the body, and in what amount.
2) HDL is not produced by muscles.
3) LDL cannot change into HDL.
4) You are correct in saying that we do need more research in this area - it is a complicated topic!

You guys,
Studies lately have shown that shark liver oil is a very reliable way to reduce the LDL's and HDL's visit the web site www.parcdistributors.net......this is the site of a company that provides a product called "Alokoxyrol", it is a shark liver oil product, it really works and is actually guarenteed. Most people that i know that have used it no longer has any cholesterol problems. Try it and post the results.

There is so much confusion about cholesterol, and it seems that no one can provide us with the honest truth about healthy choices. This post exemplifies the exact problem we face by being mislead with advertisements.
I am a diabetic with hypothyroidism, and during some normal blood work, my doctor informed me that my cholesterol levels are now high as well. Unfortunately, she was unable to put me on any medication because my husband and I are trying to get pregnant. This leaves me with the only option of making healthy food and exercise decisions which is really difficult with the conflicting opinions.