>"Large" LDL is marginally less dangerous than "small" LDL
Neither large nor small cholesterol are "dangerous" - it's black-and-white opinions like this that make the nutrition industry so difficult for laymen to follow. They are both healthy, in that without cholesterol you would die. Excessive amounts of certain cholesterols in ratio to others just happen to be symptoms of underlying eating disorders. The author states that:
"She ... argues that HDL, so-called good cholesterol, also rises maintaining the ratio of bad to good. This is the study she cites to support that assertion. But instead of cherry-picking this one study that she performed with Egg Board money, involving 42 people, if you look at a meta-analysis, if you look at the balance of evidence, the rise in bad with increasing cholesterol intakes is much more than the rise in good."
However, it is known that the ratio of HDL to total cholesterol is a just as good as if not a better predictor of heart health. That's why it is generally used... [1]
There are many documented cases of high protein diets (or more specifically - low carb) achieving better cholesterol ratios [2][3][4]. There are also many more studies that address the significance of LDL size, than what the author you linked addresses [4][5][6]
[1] Mensink, Ronald p., et al. “Effects of dietary fatty acids and carbohydrates on the ratio of serum total to HDL cholesterol and on serum lipids and apolipoproteins: a meta-analysis of 60 controlled trials” The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 77.5 (2003): 1146-1155.
[2] Bueno, Nassib Bezerra, et al. “Very-low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet v. low-fat diet for long-term weight loss: a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.” British Journal of Nutrition 110.07 (2013): 1178-1187.
[3] Brinkworth, Grant D., et al. “Long-term effects of a very-low-carbohydrate weight loss diet compared with an isocaloric low-fat diet after 12 mo.” The American journal of clinical nutrition 90.1 (2009): 23-32.
[4] Merchant, Anwar T., et al. “Carbohydrate intake and HDL in a multiethnic population.” The American journal of clinical nutrition 85.1 (2007): 225-230.
[4] Otvos, James D., et al. “Clinical implications of discordance between low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and particle number.” Journal of clinical lipidology 5.2 (2011): 105-113.
[5] Meisinger, Christa, et al. “Plasma oxidized low-density lipoprotein, a strong predictor for acute coronary heart disease events in apparently healthy, middle-aged men from the general population.” Circulation 112.5 (2005): 651-657.
[6] Parthasarathy, Sampath, et al. “Oxidized low-density lipoprotein.” Free Radicals and Antioxidant Protocols. Humana Press, 2010. 403-417.
Neither large nor small cholesterol are "dangerous" - it's black-and-white opinions like this that make the nutrition industry so difficult for laymen to follow. They are both healthy, in that without cholesterol you would die. Excessive amounts of certain cholesterols in ratio to others just happen to be symptoms of underlying eating disorders. The author states that:
"She ... argues that HDL, so-called good cholesterol, also rises maintaining the ratio of bad to good. This is the study she cites to support that assertion. But instead of cherry-picking this one study that she performed with Egg Board money, involving 42 people, if you look at a meta-analysis, if you look at the balance of evidence, the rise in bad with increasing cholesterol intakes is much more than the rise in good."
However, it is known that the ratio of HDL to total cholesterol is a just as good as if not a better predictor of heart health. That's why it is generally used... [1]
There are many documented cases of high protein diets (or more specifically - low carb) achieving better cholesterol ratios [2][3][4]. There are also many more studies that address the significance of LDL size, than what the author you linked addresses [4][5][6]
[1] Mensink, Ronald p., et al. “Effects of dietary fatty acids and carbohydrates on the ratio of serum total to HDL cholesterol and on serum lipids and apolipoproteins: a meta-analysis of 60 controlled trials” The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 77.5 (2003): 1146-1155.
[2] Bueno, Nassib Bezerra, et al. “Very-low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet v. low-fat diet for long-term weight loss: a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.” British Journal of Nutrition 110.07 (2013): 1178-1187.
[3] Brinkworth, Grant D., et al. “Long-term effects of a very-low-carbohydrate weight loss diet compared with an isocaloric low-fat diet after 12 mo.” The American journal of clinical nutrition 90.1 (2009): 23-32.
[4] Merchant, Anwar T., et al. “Carbohydrate intake and HDL in a multiethnic population.” The American journal of clinical nutrition 85.1 (2007): 225-230.
[4] Otvos, James D., et al. “Clinical implications of discordance between low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and particle number.” Journal of clinical lipidology 5.2 (2011): 105-113.
[5] Meisinger, Christa, et al. “Plasma oxidized low-density lipoprotein, a strong predictor for acute coronary heart disease events in apparently healthy, middle-aged men from the general population.” Circulation 112.5 (2005): 651-657.
[6] Parthasarathy, Sampath, et al. “Oxidized low-density lipoprotein.” Free Radicals and Antioxidant Protocols. Humana Press, 2010. 403-417.