Depending on who you believe, heart disease and cholesterol could easily go hand-in-hand and be inseparable. You should be careful who you listen to, though, as we now know that atherosclerosis, a major cause of heart disease, can be triggered by ruptured scar tissue on the artery linings, and not plaque buildup on the walls of those arteries. While some believe that cholesterol, moving around in our bloodstream, sticks to the walls of the arteries and causes a heart attack, very strong evidence can be used to counter this idea. Originally, it was said that cholesterol circulating in the bloodstream, together with saturated fats, combine to cling to artery linings, causing that narrowing.
The American Food Pyramid, has educated us on how to construct our diets. We are advised not to eat saturated fats and consume polyunsaturated fats and monounsaturated fats, which are found manly in vegetable oils. Vegetable oils have a high concentration of Omega 6 fatty acids which few of us are aware to balance with Omega 3 fatty acids, most commonly found in fish and red meat. Again we are reinforced to consume a low trans fats diet and focus on a high carbohydrate diet. Once again elevating blood sugars, which mentioned above, is a leading cause to arteriosclerosis.