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human diet before. And these processed fats were being used in more and more processed products containing refined carbohydrates and many additives that gave them a long shelf life.
    Dr. White and many others pointed out that these facts—heart disease increasing along with the use of polyunsaturated oils and partially hydrogenated oils in processed foods—suggested that Americans should eat traditional foods like meat, eggs, butter and cheese, and avoid the vegetable oil–based foods newly flooding the grocers’ shelves. But other scientists suggested instead that reducing animal foods in the diet was the way to keep the heart healthy. They cited studies by a young researcher named David Kritchevsky, who discovered that feeding large amounts of purified cholesterol caused a type of atherosclerosis (a buildup of fatty plaques on the inner walls of arteries) in vegetarian rabbits.
    By the early 1970s, the lipid hypothesis had become the ruling explanation for the rise in heart disease, accepted and promoted by leading medical experts such as Dr. Frederick Stare, head of Harvard University’s Nutrition Department, respected organizations including the American Heart Association, government agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and of course the food manufacturers, especially the edible oil industry. (In fact, we have documented evidence that the edible oil industry worked behind the scenes to influence government policy to endorse the use of foods containing their products, and not traditional fats.)

    What Is the Lipid Hypothesis, and How Has It Affected What You Eat?
    In coronary heart disease (CHD), a buildup of fatty plaques in the artery walls causes a narrowing of the coronary arteries (which bring blood to the heart), leading to blockage of the blood flow to the heart. The result is angina (chest pain) and, often, heart attack. The lipid hypothesis describes coronary heart disease as a three-step disease process:
    • Step 1: We eat a diet containing too much cholesterol and saturated fat, and as a result we develop a high level of cholesterol in our blood.
    • Step 2: High blood cholesterol causes atherosclerosis.
    • Step 3: Atherosclerosis obstructs the vessels that bring blood to the heart, resulting in coronary heart disease.
    Each of these steps is like a link in a chain, connecting to form the lipid hypothesis. And yet extensive scientific evidence exists that contradicts each step in this “chain” of scientific theory, presented as fact for over five decades. This evidence has been around for years, but for various reasons—described by Dr. Mann as “reasons of pride, profit, and prejudice”—the media and the scientific community have not communicated this fact to the public.
    Spokespersons from organizations promoting the lipid hypothesis don’t understand the effects and benefits of dietary saturated fats (described in Chapter 1), nor do they comprehend the normal presence within the body of saturated fats—and their key role. Fundamentally, the war on saturated fats stems from a misperception about the effects of saturated fatty acids on cholesterol levels.
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    What Is Cholesterol?
    Cholesterol is often referred to as a fat, but it’s actually a heavyweight alcohol with a hormonelike structure that behaves like a fat, being insoluble in water and in blood. Cholesterol, however, has a coating of a compound called a lipoprotein, which makes it water soluble so it can be carried in the blood.
    Lipoproteins are described in terms of their density. Generally speaking, high-density lipoproteins (HDL) carry cholesterol away from the cells to the liver, and low-density lipoproteins (LDL) carry cholesterol to the cells. We speak of HDL as “good” cholesterol and LDL as “bad” cholesterol. However, both HDL and LDL play critical roles in body chemistry.
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    The Benefits of Cholesterol
Your body uses cholesterol to make hormones that help you deal with stress and