He should stop buying his physiology texts at Toys’ R’ Us: Neither LDL-raising fats nor LDL are “garbage”, nor is HDL a “garbage truck”. Such analogies are simply a load of overly simplistic and misleading nonsense. The only undesirable fats are man-made trans fats which raise LDL.

LDL is the lipoprotein that transports cholesterol from the liver to the cells. Given that cholesterol is one of the most important substances in our body, essential for healthy nerve and brain function, cell membrane integrity, hormone production, skin vitamin D formation, and so forth LDL performs an absolutely vital function and hardly deserves to be labeled garbage!

As for all his talk about the effect of HDL and LDL cholesterol and CVD risk, it is by now very well known and readily verifiable in the published literature that cholesterol does not cause (or promotes) heart disease. As such, any alleged superior cholesterol-lowering effect of Ornish’s diet can in no way be considered any sort of advantage, especially given that low-cholesterol is frequently associated with suicidal and violent behavior and shortened life span! Animal studies showing that cholesterol and saturated fats protect lower mortality from infection, and human studies showing that dietary and drug cholesterol-lowering measures impair cognition and worsen mood, suggest that these observations are more than just novel statistical associations.

Ornish should stop talking about garbage as long as all he proffers are unscientific dietary delusions and, indeed, advice that best can be kept where it belongs: in the garbage bin.

The “man in the street”, however, has a overall natural, low-carb, low-GI diet that would make most Western dietitians shudder. If and when carbs are consumed, it is almost always combined with a high protein and especially high fat intake, with generous intake of low-glycemic veggies as well as sufficient roughage. This results in a overall quite low glycemic load.

I have heard and read many stories from UK and US ex-pats, many of them full-blown diabetics, that they do so much better on the (tasty and healthy) native diets of the respective Asian countries they live and work in. Glycemic control is much better than on the average Western diet and, as a result, quite a few of them do not need medication anymore.

Of course, if one simply assumes the common wisdom that Asians consume mountains of rice, then it’s easy to make such simplistic conclusions and statements. It would be wise and beneficial if these researchers would actually visit the countries they are crowing about and live with the common man. Would be an eye-opener for most of them, in my experience.

The important and large-scale China Study -incidentally much abused by many “mainstream” (read: consensus) researchers- tells quite an interesting and different story about dietary patterns and health in Asia.

Hahaha! You are so right! And she’s probably on statins for an elevation that is so small as to not matter!