Biologist on Rogan: Cholesterol Doesn’t Cause Heart Disease—It’s the Fireman, Not the Arsonist

In a conversation with Joe Rogan, biologist Gary Brecka dispels the myth that cholesterol causes heart disease, arguing it's a responder to arterial inflammation, not the culprit.

"Inflammation in our arterial wall... actually calls cholesterol to the site of inflammation. And we blame cholesterol for a lot of the heart disease... because it's at the scene of the crime, but it rarely pulls the trigger."

"Cholesterol is kind of like a fireman. It gets called to the fire to put the fire out. So the theory that if we had fewer firemen, we'd have less fires is kind of absurd, right?"

"So the theory that if... we reduce the cholesterol, which was called to the site of inflammation to cause the repair, rather than ask what started the fire—that notion is about to be... blown out of the water."