Lipids

The Ghost in the Guidelines: How the Fat Debate Shaped the Story of Heart Disease

Just days ago, something remarkable happened.
FDA Commissioner Marty Makary stood at a podium and said what would’ve once been unthinkable.
That dogma still lives large,” he declared, referring to America’s decades-long war on saturated fat. “You see remnants of it in the food guidelines that we are now revising.”
It wasn’t just a revision. It was a rebuke.
Makary didn’t mince words. He called the foundational science behind decades of dietary advice—especially…

Non-HDL Cholesterol: The Hidden Heart-Disease Predictor You’ve Overlooked

Sometimes, the most dangerous number isn’t the one your doctor talks about. While LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C) steals the spotlight in most lab reports, it’s not always the best predictor of cardiovascular risk. Hidden in plain sight is a more powerful marker: non-HDL cholesterol (non-HDL-C)—a measure that captures all the cholesterol carried by atherogenic, plaque-building particles, not … Read more

The Triglyceride/HDL Cholesterol Ratio

The TG/HDL-C Ratio in Clinical Context For decades, cholesterol has been the headline act in our understanding of heart disease. High LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C) — the so-called “bad” cholesterol — was cast as the main villain, while HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C) earned praise as the “good” kind. Statins became the blockbuster therapy, and LDL-C targets the cornerstone of … Read more

When the Medicine Becomes the Malady: The Story of Christopher Wunsch

A young life, unraveled by a rare reaction to a common drug — and what it reveals about statins, mitochondria, and the quiet risks medicine often overlooks. Christopher Wunsch was 29 — healthy, ambitious, and thriving in a career he loved. As a critical care nurse, he knew the stakes of cardiovascular disease. So when … Read more

The Explorer Who Ate Only Meat—and Lived to Tell the Tale

In the winter of 1906, somewhere north of the Arctic Circle, a young explorer named Vilhjalmur Stefansson sat cross-legged in an igloo, surrounded by Inuit hunters. Outside, the wind cut like a knife, shrieking across the frozen plain. Inside, the flickering light of seal oil lamps cast dancing shadows on the snow-packed walls. The air … Read more