{"id":29009,"date":"2025-10-04T06:00:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-04T04:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cristinatomasi.com\/?p=29009"},"modified":"2026-01-07T10:51:52","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T09:51:52","slug":"cholesterol-history-and-unfounded-myths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cristinatomasi.com\/en\/colesterolo-storia-e-miti-non-fondati\/","title":{"rendered":"Cholesterol: history and myths (not founded)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cholesterol: friend or foe?<\/strong><\/h1>\n
by Oliver Ruatti<\/strong><\/h6>\n

For years we have heard that the cholesterol<\/strong> in foods was the main culprit in heart disease.<\/p>\n

Where does this belief come from?<\/p>\n

Reviewing the history helps us understand how this myth was formed, often on a more fragile foundation than we think.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Initial observations<\/strong><\/p>\n

In\u00a01872<\/strong>, Sir William Gull and Dr. Sutton first described theatherosclerosis<\/strong>, or hardening of the arteries. A few decades later, Canadian physician Sir William Osler linked it to symptoms such as angina and heart attack, calling it \"a disease of adulthood that affects men almost exclusively.\"
\nAs early as the early 1900s, pathologists noticed.\u00a0fat deposits<\/strong>\u00a0in the arteries of men who died suddenly. Still not knowing the composition of those deposits, they began animal experiments to see if diet might play a role.<\/p>\n

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Rabbits and the birth of a hypothesis.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 1908, Dr.\u00a0Ignatowski<\/strong>\u00a0fed rabbits with meat, milk and eggs and observed the formation of plaques in the aorta. Other researchers (Stuckey, Chalatow, Wesselkin) resumed these experiments, coming to a conclusion: the\u00a0Egg yolk and the cholesterol it contains<\/strong>\u00a0Could have caused atherosclerosis.
\nThe problem? Rabbits are\u00a0herbivores<\/strong>\u00a0and do not digest animal foods well, so they react abnormally compared to humans. This methodological limitation was overlooked, yet it profoundly marked subsequent research.<\/p>\n

\"Nikolai
Pathologist Nikolai Nikolaevi\u010d Ani\u010dkov<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The pathologist\u00a0Nikolai Anitschkow<\/strong>, central figure, administered purified cholesterol to rabbits for weeks: they developed lesions proportional to the dose.<\/p>\n

It looked like the ultimate test.<\/p>\n

However, the same effect was not observed in the rats<\/strong>(omnivorous, more human-like).<\/p>\n

The \"cholesterol guilt\" thus stems from an unrepresentative animal model.<\/p>\n

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Early evidence on humans<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the 1910s and 1920s, researchers such as.\u00a0Windaus<\/strong>\u00a0is also\u00a0Schoenheimer<\/strong>\u00a0examined human aortas and found more cholesterol in atheromatous arteries than in healthy ones. This reinforced the idea that cholesterol was involved, but doubt remained:\u00a0Was it cause or consequence?<\/strong>
\nSome physicians, such as Timothy Leary in Boston, suggested that atherosclerosis was rather a\u00a0metabolic disease<\/strong>, on a par with diabetes and gout. An alternative view that unfortunately remained marginal.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ancel Keys' entrance into the scene.<\/strong><\/p>\n

After World War II, the American physiologist.\u00a0Ancel Keys<\/strong>\u00a0became a protagonist.<\/p>\n