The American Food advice people (sorry forget the technical name ADA maybe) have stated that 'dietary cholesterol is no longer a nutrient of concern'. From which I surmise they have realised that eating cholesterol or not eating cholesterol rich foods had little or no effect on Cholesterol levels. Cholesterol is essential for the body and the brain is basically made of it. (Could the 'low cholesterol' message be a factor in the increasing rates of dementia maybe?).
'Normal' cholesterol used to be considered to be around 5.5 but as others have said it's now known that total cholesterol is meaningless anyway.
The 4 number for diabetics seems to have come from the school of 'if 5 is good then 4 must be better' but I have seen absolutely no evidence in my research of the science to back that up. In fact there are studies that show too low is associated with much higher death rates and particular for the elderly and for women.
I can only guess that someone thought that diabetics tend to have more heart disease and cholesterol was (before science debunked this myth) thought to be a factor so cholesterol must be lowered for diabetics. I can see that it seems logical but it's scientifically bunkum.
Once again it seems we have come back to carbs as the problem (according to most recent studies) and the inflammation they can cause as being a bigger factor in heart disease, so if we cut the carbs then our cholesterol levels should be fairly irrelevant.
Is it just coincidence that the push for lower cholesterol comes as statin manufacturers are looking for new markets and so they are being pushed on a healthy population (this is the most terrible public health disaster in my opinion - that they are pushing statins on people with no history of heart disease and a minimal 10% risk over the next 10 years. Ridiculous over medicalisation and one day there will be lawsuits galore and that will likely bankrupt the NHS - not us diabetics and particularly not those of us ignoring present NHS guidelines)
Anyway I massively upped my consumption of saturated fats. Cream would have been an occasional treat before and now I eat double cream almost every day, put creme fraiche on my vegetables, eat full fat cheeses, use butter, cook with coconut oil, et fatty cuts of meat, streaky bacon etc etc.
Results after 8 months. Yes total cholesterol raised slightly (to 6.0 from 5.5) but only because the HDL (so called good cholesterol) rose considerably while both LDL and triglycerides went down a lot so lipid profile is (according to latest research) much improved.
Personally I think deciding on a cholesterol number you want does not make sense. Instead eat sensibly by cutting carbs, eating good fats (saturated or unsaturated whatever you want - but personally I avoid the processed vegetable oils as I think the less processed oils are much better and have better omega 3 to omega 6 ratios) and your lipid profile should improve. Trust your body that if you feed it right then it will do it's best for you. Total cholesterol numbers are useless.
It is always worth getting a lipid profile done (just ask at doctors) and insist on the breakdown of the numbers not just a total cholesterol as then you have the knowledge to see whether any dietary changes are helping or not.
Apologies I have written an essay again
