Evidence suggests stanols and sterols are ‘good’ for cholesterol but bad for health

"Well, the evidence shows that when we take dietary steps to reduce cholesterol through reducing fat in the diet or substituting saturated fat for ‘healthier’ fats, it does not reduce the risk of heart attack or stroke or overall risk of death [1]. This, obviously, casts some doubt on the validity of the assumption that dietary reduction of cholesterol is necessarily a good thing.
The other issue though concerns safety. How do we know if we do not have the long-term studies of the use of stanols and sterols in humans that are even safe? Again, one may argue what’s the harm, seeing as they’re ‘plant-derived’. Well, it turns out there is quite a body of evidence which suggests far from being the wonder-chemicals we've been lead to believe them to be, stanols and sterols may pose real and significant risks to health."

 References:
1. Weingartner O, et al Controversial role of plant sterol esters in the management of hypercholesterolaemia. European Heart Journal 2009;30:404-409

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Silly hypercholesterolemia patients, duped into believing cholesterol is the primary cause of heart disease and now being led down the "Natural" path after feeling less than healthy on Statins.  How many times can it be said that cholesterol production is primarily an inside job.  In other words, the level of Cholesterol in the blood is produced mainly by the body in response to HMG-CoA reductase which can be triggered by such things as elevated levels of Insulin and chronic inflammatory conditions.
the issue of heart disease goes to low activity and over processing of our food of which many of the "Natural" Cholesterol lowering products are a member of.  Very rarely has someone changed their diet, avoiding processed carbohydrates and increasing vegetables, fruits and animal protein, and not seen significant metabolic changes which include Cholesterol.  Stop taking the easy way out by purchasing frankenstein foods like Benecol and just start eating like humans were meant to eat.

Work Smarter; Not Harder!

Dr David Marcon
Marcon Chiropractic & Wellness Center
www.marconchiropractic.com