I’ve limited them to the most respected peer-reviewed journals so that cherry-picking or quackery cannot be accused.

You can look at my caps-lock summaries of each, and the excerpt quote from their conclusions below each citation.

There are also dozens of studies which show how dangerous it is for an elderly person’s immune system and brain-health to limit good-fat consumption as well, but let’s not complicate things:

*** ELDERLY WITH A HIGHER CHOLESTEROL ARE 5.2 TIMES LESS LIKELY TO DIE

Forette B et al. Cholesterol as risk factor for mortality in elderly women. Lancet. 1989 Apr 22;1(8643):868-70.

“Mortality was 5.2 times higher with the low cholesterol of 4.0 as opposed to the ‘high’ cholesterol of 7.0”

*** TC IN ELDERLY INVERSELY CORRELATED WITH CVD AND ALL-CAUSE MORTALITY

Staessen J et al. Is a high serum cholesterol level associated with longer survival in elderly hypertensives? J Hypertens. 1990 Aug;8(8):755-61.

“Serum total cholesterol, measured at randomization, was independently and inversely correlated with total (P = 0.03), non-cardiovascular (P = 0.03) and cancer (P = 0.04) mortality”

*** ELDERLY WITH “GOOD” LOW CHOLESTEROL MUCH MORE LIKELY TO DIE

Harris T et al.The low cholesterol-mortality association in a national cohort. J Clin Epidemiol. 1992 Jun;45(6):595-601.

“Serum cholesterol below 4.1 mmol/l was associated with increased risk of death”

*** ELDERLY WITH LOW TOTAL CHOLESTEROL MUCH MORE LIKELY TO DIE

Casiglia E et al. Predictors of mortality in very old subjects aged 80 years or over. Eur J Epidemiol. 1993 Nov;9(6):577-86.

“[total cholesterol inter alia] very poor predictors of mortality in our survey”

*** ELDERLY WITH TC VALUES 6.20 mmol/L OR MORE ARE LESS LIKELY TO DI

Krumholz HM et al. Lack of association between cholesterol and coronary heart disease mortality and morbidity and all-cause mortality in persons older than 70 years. JAMA. 1994 Nov 2;272(17):1335-40.

“Our findings do not support the hypothesis that hypercholesterolemia or low HDL-C are important risk factors for all-cause mortality, coronary heart disease mortality, or hospitalization for myocardial infarction or unstable angina in this cohort of persons older than 70 years”

*** ELDERLY WITH LOW TC MUCH MORE LIKELY TO SUCCUMB TO INFECTION

Weverling-Rijnsburger AW et al. High-density vs low-density lipoprotein cholesterol as the risk factor for coronary artery disease and stroke in old age. Arch Intern Med. 2003;163(13):1549-54.

*** ELDERLY WITH TC 5.0-6.4 LESS LIKELY TO DIE THAN THOSE WITH TC <5.0

Jonsson A et al. Total cholesterol and mortality after age 80 years. Lancet. 1997 Dec 13;350(9093):1778-9

“As a biological factor, serum cholesterol is of decreasing importance as a risk factor for cardiovascular mortality with advancing years”

*** HIGH TC BAD PREDICTOR OF CVD; LOW TC GOOD PREDICTOR OF MORTALITY

Räihä I et al. Effect of serum lipids, lipoproteins, and apolipoproteins on vascular and nonvascular mortality in the elderly. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 1997 Jul;17(7):1224-32.

“low total cholesterol was still a significant predictor of death due to nonvascular causes”

*** EVEN IN ELDERLY WITH HEART DISEASE, LOW TC = MORE DEATH: ESP CANCER!

Behar S et al. Low total cholesterol is associated with high total mortality in patients with coronary heart disease. The Bezafibrate Infarction Prevention (BIP) Study Group. Eur Heart J. 1997 Jan;18(1):52-9.

“The relative risk of non-cardiac death was 2.27 times higher in the low cholesterol group than in the controls”

*** HIGH TC AND ITS COMPONENTS NOT ASSOC WITH GREATER ELDERLY MORTALITY

Fried LP et al. Risk factors for 5-year mortality in older adults: the Cardiovascular Health Study. JAMA. 1998 Feb 25;279(8):585-92.

“Neither high-density lipoprotein cholesterol nor low-density lipoprotein cholesterol was associated with mortality”

*** LOW TC HIGHLY CORRELATED WITH ALL-CAUSE MORTALITY IN ELDERLY

Schatz IJ et al. Cholesterol and all-cause mortality in elderly people from the Honolulu Heart Program: a cohort study. Lancet. 2001 Aug 4;358(9279):351-5.

“These data cast doubt on the scientific justification for lowering cholesterol to very low concentrations (

*** LDL IRRELEVANT TO CVD RISK; LOW LDL+HDL = INFECTION MORTALITY RISK

Weverling-Rijnsburger AW et al. High-density vs low-density lipoprotein cholesterol as the risk factor for coronary artery disease and stroke in old age. Arch Intern Med. 2003;163(13):1549-54.

“Both low LDL cholesterol and low HDL cholesterol concentrations were associated with an increased mortality risk of infection”

*** HOSPITALISED ELDERLY WITH LOW TC MUCH MORE LIKELY TO DIE SOON

Onder G et al. Serum cholesterol levels and in-hospital mortality in the elderly. Am J Med. 2003;115(4):265-71.

“Among older hospitalized adults, low serum cholesterol levels appear to be an independent predictor of short-term mortality”

*** LOW TC ASSOCIATED IN WOMEN WITH MANY CAUSES OF DEATH

Ulmer H et al. Why Eve is not Adam: prospective follow-up in 149650 women and men of cholesterol and other risk factors related to cardiovascular and all-cause mortality.J Womens Health 2004 Jan-Feb;13(1):41-53.

“low cholesterol was significantly associated with all-cause mortality, showing significant associations with death through cancer, liver diseases, and mental diseases”

*** LOW TC EXTREMELY STRONG ASSOCIATION WITH MORTALITY IN ELDERLY

Schupf N et al. Relationship between plasma lipids and all-cause mortality in nondemented elderly. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2005 Feb;53(2):219-26

“Low cholesterol level is a robust predictor of mortality in the nondemented elderly”

*** OLD WITH VERY LOW TC 2x MORE LIKELY TO DIE THAN THOSE WITH VERY HIGH

Akerblom JL et al. Relation of plasma lipids to all-cause mortality in Caucasian, African-American and Hispanic elders. Age Ageing. 2008;37:207-13.

“Whites and African-Americans in the lowest quartiles of total cholesterol, non-HDL cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL cholesterol) were approximately twice as likely to die as those in the highest quartile”

*** THE OLDER YOU GET, THE MORE PROTECTIVE HIGH TC APPEARS TO BE

Newson RS et al. Association between serum cholesterol and noncardiovascular mortality in older age. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2011;59:1779-85.

“Higher total cholesterol was associated with a lower risk of noncardiovascular mortality in older adults. This association varied across the late-life span and was stronger in older age groups.”

*** DEPRESSED CHOLESTEROL SUBSTANTIAL PREDICTOR OF MORTALITY IN ELDERLY

Rudman D et al et. Antecedents of death in the men of a Veterans Administration nursing home. J Am Geriatr Soc. 1987 Jun;35(6):496-502.

“men with cholesterol less than or equal to 156 mg/dl and hematocrit less than or equal to 41% died at a rate 42 times the rate of men with values above both thresholds”