The American Heart Association guidelines actually state that “total cholesterol is not significantly associated with heart disease.”
Your body makes cholesterol to make hormones, cell membranes, bile, and vitamin D.
Total cholesterol is really LDL, HDL, and triglycerides combined. Whenever a person gets a cholesterol test, they may also want to get an advanced lipid profile. This is an advanced test that measures the two different types of LDL.
The two types of LDL are large buoyant and small dense (sdLDL-C). The type of cholesterol that can be dangerous is the small dense (sdLDL-C). The small dense type may be a better marker for predicting future potential heart problems and a better indicator of inflammation inside of the arteries. The small dense type of LDL comes from a high-carb diet.
By doing the healthy version of keto, you can get into ketosis and start burning fat. There will be certain times where your cholesterol goes up and down. But, as long as you keep your carbs low, you’ll get more of the large buoyant LDL and not the small dense type.
A few potential causes of inflammation in the arteries:
• Seed oils
• Glucose
• Smoking
• Junk food
• Low vitamin E