We’ve all been born under the stigma of cholesterol. From the day you were born, the cholesterol in your food and your blood cholesterol levels have determined your health prognosis.
Though it remains poorly understood, cholesterol continues to play a central role as a dietary indicator. Concerns about cholesterol have given rise to the creation of functional foods, shaped food advertising, dictated the principles behind dietary guides and influenced our dietary habits.
While blood cholesterol levels have long been used as a health indicator, the metric can have little to no relevance to overall health. Though advertisements for products such as Danone’s Danacol yogurt warn of grave consequences if blood cholesterol surpasses 200 mg/dl, in reality, it is only useful when understood in relation with other variables.
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We do know, though, that cardiovascular risk depends on many more important factors than the cholesterol levels. One of those elements is the quantity and kind of LDL lipoproteins. Your doctor can use software to interpret that data if you require a more detailed analysis.
Your doctor’s advice will truly help you understand your cardiovascular risk. To focus only on your cholesterol is to disregard the last 70 years of scientific research—and to fall into the trap of marketing gimmicks like “functional foods.”
