Longevity and Performance Specialist: Obesity is the #1 symptom of cardiovascular disease (besides being 90) http://eatingacademy.com/cholesterol-2/heart-disease-begin-tell-us-prevention I love this guy. Long,long post summarized in two  sentences: The #1 killer of North Americans, cardiovascular disease, is not a function of cholesterol, but too many triglycerides attached to lipoproteins, which essentially steal room from cholesterol, requiring more lipoproteins to be made to make up the difference. These extra lipoproteins damage your arterial walls, causing inflammation and plaques (the shit that can kill you once they dislodge). Number one way to reduce your triglyceride attachment? Not being fat. Full stop. Not being fat is more effective than any statin drug (with the exception of one genetic profile), full stop. Not being fat is more effective than the combination of NOT SMOKING, EXERCISING REGULARLY, AND STATIN MEDICATION. Love it.