Are the US cholesterol guidelines corrupt? I can’t say for sure, but they are certainly HIGHLY suspect! In 2004, the National Cholesterol Education panel changed the threshold for what is considered to be high cholesterol… Putting numbers like mine and probably yours (for LDL cholesterol) in the category of those at risk and leading physicians across the country to recommend statins to both me and you! But they did this with NO NEW data! And the plot thickens when it became known that 8 of the 9 members on the NCEP committee had financial ties to the statin industry! Say what? Even to this day, there is ZERO consideration of CONTEXT when statins or other cholesterol lowering drugs are prescribed… Yes, in some individuals with known heart disease who remain insulin resistant and are unwilling to change their diet, statins may be Indicated… But these drugs are a 15 BILLION dollar industry, and MANY statin prescriptions are recommended to people like you or me who are insulin sensitive… Who had low triglycerides and high HDL… And low fasting insulin… Simply based on an “elevated” LDL cholesterol level with no appreciation of the importance of insulin resistance/sensitivity in the development of atherosclerosis…. And statin side effects are definitely underreported (see the recent podcast I did on statins!) and ignored…. Based on guidelines that were probably swayed by the statin industry’s financial incentives connected with committee members… Pharmaceuticals can help people, but this type of corruption within the industry cannot be ignored. Welcome to #theremembering - @paulsaladinomd2