Oversimplification of diet: coronary heart disease relationships and exaggerated diet recommendations

Abstract

The data relating diet to coronary heart disease, when critically examined, clearly show that there is a normal spectrum of blood serum values, and that normal persons do not develop pathological levels upon the ingestion of eggs and other cholesterol-containing foods. The data also show that a small fraction of any population have pathological levels upon the ingestion of large amounts of cholesterol-containing foods. Average data obtained from mixed populations of normal and pathological blood lipid values should not be used to advise the normal majority of that population. The harmful effects of such policy are outlined. The data demonstrating the concept that the risk of coronary heart disease is a function of serum lipids at any level is no longer valid are reviewed. The data of the National Cooperative Pooling Project of the American Heart Association are used to show that up to 250 mg/dl there is no relationship between serum cholesterol concentration and risk.