it stands to reason, cholesterol clogs arteries, fact
I think you'll find reason has nothing to do with medical studies.
What is clogging arteries ?
If cholesterol clogs arteries, why doesn't it clog veins ?
As for 'cholesterol', where is it coming from ?
All of these questions have answers here :
https://drmalcolmkendrick.org/2016/01/18/what-causes-heart-disease/
"it is true you can find cholesterol in atherosclerotic plaques. No-one is going to deny that... if you start exploring further, you find that the cholesterol you find in atherosclerotic plaques almost certainly comes from the cholesterol rich membranes of RBCs...it seems that the cholesterol does not come from LDL"
Dr Kendrick has written to date 14 parts to a What Causes Heart Disease series (see side panel on link above.)
His anti-statin case can be summed up as
'just because every time you rush into a burning building you see firemen, that doesn't tell you that they started the fire !'
If you read through the whole series you'll see Diabetes cited as a risk factor in many of the stages of heart disease, and the importance of watching your triglyceride levels (rather than your total cholesterol/LDL levels.)
"If you have lots of VLDL in your blood, you will stimulate the production of PAI-1. So, you will have impaired breakdown of blood clots (impaired fibrinolytic activity). Which means that (from the same paper):
‘
Hypertriglyceridemia is associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). Impaired endogenous fibrinolytic function is a frequent finding in subjects with hypertriglyceridemia.’
The most common condition where you are most likely to find high VLDL levels is type II diabetes. In type II diabetes there is, always, a high PAI-1 level."
(Part VI)
The whole series is worth a read, and a re-read, and a re-read (when the reader is not medically trained ; )
Hope that illuminates : )
Geoff