unpopular opinion (but i do deep dives)why high cholesterol might not be the villain we've been sold.
- Heather Newman
- Jun 5
- 3 min read
A colleague in my space recently shared something that stopped me in my tracks.
One of her clients had moved three times in two years.
Each move meant a new doctor. Each new doctor ran the usual labs. And every single one of them—without hesitation—prescribed a statin the moment they saw her total cholesterol just slightly above 200.
No conversation. No questions. Just “too high = medicate.”
wild.
This is what we’re still calling “preventative medicine.”
But is it really prevention—or just protocol?
Let’s zoom out for a second.
what statins actually do inside the body:
Statins are commonly prescribed to “protect the heart,” but here’s what they also do that no one talks about:
Poison mitochondrial complex I (your cellular energy engines)
Block Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), an antioxidant critical for energy + heart function
Deplete ATP production, which is your body’s energy currency
Shrink your hormone pool, since cholesterol is a precursor to your sex hormones
So if you’re wondering why someone on a statin might feel fatigued, foggy, moody, or inflamed—this is why.
The drug didn’t just target one system… it disrupted the foundation of many.
but wait… isn’t cholesterol “bad”?
That’s the simplified narrative we were all fed.
But the science?
It’s shifting.
Some studies (like this surprising one out of Sweden) have shown that people with higher cholesterol levels actually lived longer than those with lower levels—particularly women and the elderly. (do your research-note at bottom of blog post)
Not to mention:
Higher cholesterol is often a sign of:
metabolic reserve
sharper brain function
resilient immunity
hormonal strength
Let that sink in.
We’ve demonized a foundational building block of the human body and replaced it with a synthetic drug—without looking at the full picture or the root cause.
Instead of asking,
“What’s your lifestyle like? What’s your diet? Stress load? Inflammation markers?
Thyroid function?”
we just hand out a pill.
And don’t get me wrong—meds have their place.
But reflexively prescribing them without context is not medicine.
That’s protocol worship.
And that’s not what we do over here.
I believe in listening to the body, not silencing it.I believe in root cause, not reflex fixes.And I believe that just because something is common, doesn’t mean it’s normal.
If you’re walking this path too—questioning, digging deeper, advocating for your own health—then you’re my kind of girl.
We don’t do blind obedience.
We do functional truth.
keep learning. stay curious.
tune into the next episode of #GetUnstuckPodcast for more deep dives like this.
subscribe at glitteru.com/listen-now so we never lose touch.
with standards, structure + style,
heather
A comprehensive review published in BMJ Open analyzed data from over 68,000 individuals aged 60 and above. Surprisingly, the study found that higher levels of LDL cholesterol were associated with lower mortality rates in the majority of cases. This challenges the prevailing notion that high LDL cholesterol is inherently harmful, especially in older adults.
MORE STUDIES:
Emerging research challenges the traditional view that lower cholesterol is always better, especially in older adults. A study published in The Lancet found that individuals aged 85 and older with higher total cholesterol levels had a significantly lower risk of mortality over a 10-year period. sciencedirect.com
Similarly, the Honolulu Heart Program, a 20-year study of Japanese-American men aged 71–93, revealed that lower cholesterol levels were associated with higher mortality rates, suggesting that low cholesterol may be a marker of underlying health issues rather than a protective factor.
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