Cholesterol, Health, and How Science Should Be Done

Chris Kresser of The Healthy Skeptic interviews Chris Masterjohn about cholesterol and health: The Healthy Skeptic Podcast — Episode 11. Mr. Kresser said:

This week we’re glad to welcome Chris Masterjohn to the show. Chris is currently pursuing a PhD in Nutritional Sciences with a concentration in Biochemical and Molecular Nutrition at the University of Connecticut. He writes a blog called The Daily Lipid and is also a frequent contributor on the Weston A. Price Foundation’s blog. I consider Chris to be one of the foremost experts on the topic of cholesterol and its relationship to heart disease. In this episode, we discuss (among other things):

• the history of the cholesterol-heart disease connection
• misconceptions around diet vs. lipid hypothesis
• finding middle ground between cholesterol skeptics and proponents of the lipid hypothesis
• the LDL receptor and familial hypercholesterolemia and what they can tell us about cholesterol and CHD in normal populations

Copyright © 2011 The Healthy Skeptic

The interview clarifies the role and importance of cholesterol to our health and proper functioning, and gives a good analysis of the science and history of cholesterol research. So the interview is a good way to learn a bit about how science should work and about how we should analyze “scientific” reports.