Thread by @holmanm

1/ Lipid theorists blame LDL for CVD because some CVD “plaques” contain oxidised LDL, dead microbes and dead white blood cells. Ruptured plaques that block blood flow to the heart or brain can cause a heart attack or stroke.

2/ Found at the scene of the crime, LDL cholesterol is “guilty” - even though it is oxidised LDL that is found in plaques.
Lipid theorists reason that the lower the blood LDL-C the better. They IGNORE the process of cholesterol oxidation.

3/ Cholesterol oxidation and CVD go hand in hand. Consequently ANTI-oxidants such as vitamins C and E help prevent CVD because they help prevent and neutralise oxidation by lipid oxidation.

4/ Oxidizers are electron thieves. Lipids (such as cholesterol) that have double bonds are electron-rich and therefore easily oxidised (lose electrons).
This creates a chain reaction of robbing more electrons from surrounding lipids.

5/ The result is damaged cell membranes that line arteries and oxidised LDL. If LDL is damaged by oxidation, the liver must make more. Levels rise. Antioxidant supplements help prevent lipid oxidation, Levels decrease.

6/ Polyunsaturated fats such as fish oil help repair damage by lipid oxidation. Levels decrease. Avoiding lipid damaging oxidizers prevents the vicious cycle in the first place. CVD happens to arteries, not veins.

7/ Arteries are lined with lipid rich electron-rich cell membrane and the blood contains lipid rich LDL-C. Oxidizers that directly enter the arteries through the lungs (such as cigarette smoke) and stomach (such as hypochlorous acid from chlorinated city water)

8/ have been associated with lipid oxidation. Fat soluble weak acids like hypochlorous acid, aspirin, alcohol and caffeine are quickly absorbed through the stomach wall into the bloodstream. Chlorine is a very strong oxidiser.

9/ It instantly reacts with water to form hypochlorous acid that kills microbes in seconds by oxidising their lipids. CVD plaques are full of oxidised cholesterol and dead mycoplasmas that normally circulate in arterial blood.

10/ White blood cells that ingest oxidised cholesterol in an attempt to clean up the mess are killed by apoptosis; these are called “foam cells”. If chlorine destroys the walls of metal pipes, what does it do to the lipid rich cell membranes that line the arteries.

11/ If you want to kill some marine life (think glycocalyx here) put them in a tank of chlorinated tap water and watch them slowly die. Chlorinated water is made safe for fish by adding enough Vitamin C (a potent antioxidant) to neutralise the chlorine.