Relationship of Dietary Saturated Fat and LDL Cholesterol

Stimulation of Cholesterol Production Proven, Yet Ignored By Keto-Crazed

By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPH

Recently at a MAHA event someone asked me about coronary heart disease, LDL-cholesterol, and diet. I fell into my routine answer applying the question to myself stating I try to keep my dietary saturated fat below 10 grams per day. Someone at my table, who I later learned was a keto-diet expert said: “that not true” “what evidence do you have?” Not being prepared with a shopping cart of manuscripts for this elegant dinner, I let the twitchy keto-crazed conversationalist go and later solidified my understanding afterwards for this post.

There are about 1500 peer-reviewed manuscripts providing the evidence that saturated fat intake directly stimulates hepatic cholesterol production. Higher cholesterol in turn results in more coronary heart disease (CHD). This is widely recognized as a potential Achilles heel to the extreme nature of the keto diet. I personally believe the benefit of keto diets is the absolute elimination of sugar and starches. As a result, weight is lost, and there is a whole host of metabolic changes that take place.