Well the article is behind a paywall and I can't read it for that reason, but my first reaction to "lower cholesterol" is "you're fucking stupid."

Cholesterol is necessary for life and is a fundamental component of the body's repair system. The so-called "link" to heart attacks and strokes is associative and was long ago disproved as causal, yet people are still pulling that crap.

Its similar to the "if your blood pressure is high reduce sodium intake as much as you can" garbage. There are a FEW people who are extremely sensitive to serum sodium levels (under 1% of the population) in regards to blood pressure regulation. Those individuals have a nasty set of problems before them and it might be necessary to take that action but doing so MUST include careful and frequent monitoring. The problem is that potassium is in the same chemical group as sodium and thus drugs or other interventions that reduce it tend to also result in eliminating or not retaining potassium -- and potassium is utterly essential for nerve conduction including the polarization cycle that is responsible for rhythm in your heart. It is entirely possible to give yourself a fatal arrythmia if your potassium balance goes out of whack, never mind all sorts of other nasty problems. For MOST people salt is not only lacking in harm its good and your body knows how to regulate serum levels on its own just as it does damn near everything else.

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