The Zen of Cholesterol

Ready to get your namaste on? Keeping in line with this week's enlightenment theme, I gotta study and a Buddhist parable for y'all. First, the story:

"A young widower, who loved his five year old son very much, was away on business when bandits came who burned down the whole village and took his son away. When the man returned, he saw the ruins and panicked. The took the burnt corpse of an infant to be his son and cried uncontrollably. He organised a cremation ceremony, collected the ashes and put them in a beautiful little bag which he always kept with him.

Soon afterwards, his real son escaped from the bandits and found his way home. He arrived at his father's new cottage at midnight and knocked at the door. The father, still grieving asked: "Who is it?" The child answered, it is me papa, open the door!" But in his agitated state of mind, convinced his son was dead, the father thought that some young boy was making fun of him. He shouted: "Go away" and continued to cry. After some time, the child left.

Father and son never saw each other again."

After this story, the Buddha said: "Sometime, somewhere, you take something to be the truth. If you cling to it so much, even when the truth comes in person and knocks on your door, you will not open it."

I know, I know. Not your typical Real Fitness Nerd hilarity. I'm probably killing the party a little bit, but I want to make a point, so stop your belly-achin' and stick with me. Now the study:

Scientists from the University of Warwick have discovered why a newly found form of cholesterol seems to be 'ultra-bad', leading to increased risk of heart disease. The discovery could lead to new treatments to prevent heart disease particularly in people with type 2 diabetes and the elderly.

The research, funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF), found that 'ultra-bad' cholesterol, called MGmin-low-density lipoprotein (LDL), which is more common in people with type 2 diabetes and the elderly, appears to be 'stickier' than normal LDL. This makes it more likely to attach to the walls of arteries. When LDL attaches to artery walls it helps form the dangerous 'fatty' plaques' that cause coronary heart disease (CHD).

The reason I'm particularly interested in this study is two-fold. First, I love the Darth Vader-esque ring of "ultra-bad cholesterol" and look forward to watching Today Show "medical experts" abuse the term. Second, these scientists figured out that this stuff is created by a process called glycation, in which excess sugar attaches to normal LDL and makes it stickier. They think this is the reason why a diabetes 2 drug called metformin tends to also lower the risk of heart disease. In other words, too much sugar can cause heart issues.

So now I'm going to put the parable and the study together. Some of you may know what I like to have sport with the Sat Fat Set - those pro-lipid enthusiasts who claim there's nothing wrong with dietary cholesterol and the only true evil in the nutritional world is refined sugar. While I'm no fan of added sugar, I find myself polarizing every time someone insists that coconut milk will save the universe or that the obesity epidemic is 100% due to high fructose corn syrup.

But, as of late, I've been trying not to cling to my "truths." I'm in the middle of Gary Taubes' book, Why We Get Fat, which argues that it's malnutrition, not over-nutrition that makes people obese. I'm reading slowly and trying to accept it and, I gotta say, the man makes a few good points. And today's study just reenforces his points. Maybe I need to rethink things.

Don't worry, I'm the same cynical bastard I've always been and I still plan to call bullshit when bullshit needs calling. For example, so far in the book, Taubes has taken several pokes at Michael Pollan's motto "Eat Food. Not Too Much. Mostly Plants" when, in truth, their two theories can co-exist happily. You're being a douchbag, Gary. Knock it off. It just waters down your point.

The thing is, while our bodies aren't changing that much, what we know about them and what we put into them is changing rapidly, so I think it's important to check in sometimes with my convictions. What should I hold onto as truth and what's my bag of ashes?