Keep your LDLs High. Learn why.

But first, the recommended levels of Low-Density-Lipoproteins (LDL):

From The American College of Cardiology, recommendations:

• For people without heart disease, LDL is safe at less than 100 mg/dL.
• For those who have already experienced a heart attack or stroke, the safe range is less than 70 mg/dL.
• For people at very high risk, like those with heart disease and Familial Hypercholesterolemia (FH) or high Lipoprotein(a), the safe range is less than 55 mg/dL.

But why?

Low LDL levels are leading predictors of acquiring Metabolic Syndrome (MBS), which involves increased inflammation and cytokine production. This inflammatory process leads to immune system dysfunction (especially T-cells and dendritic cells), which can trigger auto-immune responses.?

But, really, why?

Since you asked - pardon the deep science.

The activation or dysregulation of the communication protein NF-Kb plays a pivotal role in initiating a cascade of meta-inflammatory factors, immune system dysfunction, and, ultimately, metabolic disorders.??

NF-kb is not your friend.

When NF-kb is expressed, it signals the innate immune system to recruit inflammatory factors, including cytokines. When NF-KB is activated (expressed), it is a "hallmark of chronic inflammatory disease," which is both a trigger and a cause of metabolic disorders that lead to more severe disease states.

Obesity and being clinically overweight are conditions more dangerous than you might think. (And also not your friend.)

What causes NF-KB to become over-expressed??Obesity often induces meta-inflammation, a low-grade, chronic inflammation initiated in metabolic cells in response to excess nutrients and energy. "Excess nutrients" is an oblique reference to obesity and clinically overweight?phenotypes (people).

Thus, Nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) is crucial in regulating inflammatory processes responsible for developing obesity-associated metabolic disease, including type 2 diabetes and hypertension, among other maladies. [2]

Once an individual crosses the threshold into a type 2 diabetes phenotype, they may also have fatty liver disease, high blood glucose levels, and, of course, obesity, which, at that point, is extremely hard to reverse without emerging GLP-1R medication.

And if that's not enough to convince you

Dr. Peter Atti, a Standford-educated physician[1], and best-selling author, believes that metabolic disorders are the primary cause of the "Big Three":

“I think of the three most deadly chronic diseases — heart disease , cancer , and dementia — as pillars all resting on the foundation of metabolic disease. While complications from metabolic disease often do not?directly?lead to death, the indirect?cost is staggering .[3]

Is all that from low LDL levels?

Of course not. There are myriad other reasons for the "Big Three." However, Attia believes that the data shows that the underlying cause of the three most deadly chronic diseases — heart disease, cancer, and dementia is a result of Metabolic disorders.

That is why those who suffer from obesity and are clinically overweight (over 70% of Americans fall into those two categories) often have low LDL levels, which is a major indication of future chronic disease states for those persons, which eventually lead to acute illness, cardiovascular disease, dementia, and cancer.

Moreover, those three diseases alone cost the US healthcare system, government, and insurers almost a trillion dollars ($850M) annually.

Footnotes

[1] https://peterattiamd.com

[2] Liu, T., Zhang, L., Joo, D. et al. NF-κB signaling in inflammation. Sig Transduct Target Ther 2, 17023 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/sigtrans.2017.23

[3] https://peterattiamd.com