Lowering Cholesterol Killed: A Study Buried for 40 Years

Shocking Findings of the Minnesota Coronary Experiment00:00

What if lowering your cholesterol increased your risk of death? A forgotten trial from the 1970s, a gold standard blinded randomized control trial, tested swapping saturated fat (like in butter and beef) for unsaturated fat to improve heart health and save lives. To the astonishment of researchers, it did the opposite: the cholesterol-lowering diet didn't save lives—it took them. The lower the cholesterol dropped, the more deaths occurred. The study wasn't published; it was hidden on nine-track tapes in a basement, uncovered decades later.

"Dr. Frantz. I've heard the possibility that there might be some very interesting data in your father's basement. And there was a mouldering old cardboard box there that I opened up and I just immediately thought to myself, Eureka. I have found it."

Was it a conspiracy, an inconvenient truth that didn't fit the narrative, or something else?

Study Methods and Design01:30

The Minnesota Coronary Experiment was a randomized control trial conducted between 1968 and 1973, including 9,423 men and women from six mental hospitals and one nursing home. This setup allowed blinding and rigorous control of diets, though ethically questionable today.

Objective per NIH grant proposal: provide evidence on whether incidence of atherosclerosis and its clinical consequences could be reduced by dietary modification—specifically, swapping saturated fat (butter) for unsaturated fat (vegetable oil).