It's worth mentioning that sugars and other carbs, to excess, have a great deal to do with "high cholesterol": If that "low fat" diet is high in carbs (typically is), beyond the small amount stored as glycogen, the liver converts the rest into triglycerides (fats) for storage in the fat cells. This VLDL are a component of total cholesterol. Cut back on carbs and that portion of the "total cholesterol" usually drops substantially. I know from first hand experience that taking a statin* appears to make most of the lipid panel numbers “better” and that includes VLDL (“triglycerides”). A curious mind inquire what is happening to the excess carbs, absent a change in diet, when one is taking a statin. The transparent profit motives aside, the widespread [over-]use of statins is a textbook example of “treat to the numbers,” i.e. treating the “symptom” (which in the case of cholesterol, doesn’t even seem to be a medically valid “condition”!) instead of the underlying cause (a bad diet.).

*Before I wised up reading A Midwestern Doctor and others.