[escapee]

LDL cholesterol has been established to be a major risk factor for coronary artery disease and death.

I have perused plenty of journals/articles from unpopular sources and from what i understand, LDL cholesterol acts as a poison delivery system when you consume alot of oxidized fats from processed food, fried food and etc. For a modern man consuming processed food and extremely high glycemic load meals, High LDL Cholesterol is a risk factor because you are transporting more "poison" ( Oxidized and Glycated LDL ) to your cell and arteries instead of the undamaged and unoxidized LDL/omega 6.

I believe everyone should be able to derive the benefits of having high LDL cholesterol given the content is "healthy" ( unoxidized )

People with high cholesterol live the longest. This statement seems so incredible that it takes a long time to clear one´s brainwashed mind to fully understand its importance. Yet the fact that people with high cholesterol live the longest emerges clearly from many scientific papers. Consider the finding of Dr. Harlan Krumholz of the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine at Yale University, who reported in 1994 that old people with low cholesterol died twice as often from a heart attack as did old people with a high cholesterol.1 Supporters of the cholesterol campaign consistently ignore his observation, or consider it as a rare exception, produced by chance among a huge number of studies finding the opposite.

High Cholesterol Protects Against Infection
Many studies have found that low cholesterol is in certain respects worse than high cholesterol. For instance, in 19 large studies of more than 68,000 deaths, reviewed by Professor David R. Jacobs and his co-workers from the Division of Epidemiology at the University of Minnesota, low cholesterol predicted an increased risk of dying from gastrointestinal and respiratory diseases.3

The Benefits of High Cholesterol

Statins have been proved to decrease the risk by decreasing the LDL cholesterol. The benefits far outweigh the risks because statins reduce mortality, and obviously this is superior to any of the relatively minor side effects of statins.

If you cant let go the processed food and fast food, Statin drugs will/may help ( on CVD) by reducing the amount of poison carrying LDL cholesterol to the system. As far as mortality is concerned, I have yet to see any convincing data that shows Statin drugs increase the life expectancy of general population .

Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Diseases With Statin Therapy: A Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.
Arch Intern Med. 2006 Nov 27;166(21):2307-13. Thavendiranathan P, Bagai A, Brookhart MA, Choudhry NK. Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario.
While the role of hydroxymethyl glutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitors (statins) in secondary prevention of cardiovascular (CV) events and mortality is established, their value for primary prevention is less clear. To clarify the role of statins for patients without cardiovascular disease, we performed a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Methods: MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Collaboration, and American College of Physicians Journal Club databases were searched for RCTs published between 1966 and June 2005. We included RCTs with follow-up of 1 year or longer, more than 100 major CV events, and 80% or more of the population without CV disease. results : Seven trials with 42 848 patients were included. Ninety percent had no history of CV disease. Mean follow-up was 4.3 years. Statin therapy reduced the RR of major coronary events, major cerebrovascular events, and revascularizations by 29%, 14%, and 33%, respectively. Statins produced a nonsignificant 22.6% RR reduction in coronary heart disease mortality. No significant reduction in overall mortality or increases in cancer or levels of liver enzymes or creatine kinase were observed. CONCLUSION: In patients without CV disease, statin therapy decreases the incidence of major coronary and cerebrovascular events and revascularizations but not coronary heart disease or overall mortality.