It’s easy to see why the theory that cholesterol causes heart disease was attractive. When researchers examined the arteries of people with hardened arteries, they found that plaques (where the hardening occurred) were full of cholesterol.

So it was an easy jump to say that excess cholesterol in the blood led to deposits of cholesterol in the artery, which led to a narrowing of the vessel and plaque formation.

And from there, that message that reducing your cholesterol and fat intake would reduce blood cholesterol and the deposition of cholesterol in your arteries. All pretty simple and attractive as a theory: fatty food equals fatty people equals fatty arteries.

Only one slight problem. It wasn’t true!