Diet gun

World Health Organization data consistently ranks pneumonia between 3rd and 5th among the leading global causes of death, with pneumonia mortality in the elderly, over 70 years of age, accounting for 96% of these deaths !!!

A recent cohort study published on January 30, 2026 in MDPI, titled Combining Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index with Total Cholesterol to Predict Pneumonia Mortality Risks in a Cohort of General Older Adults, showed that lower total cholesterol and lower GNRI values ​​(Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index, is an index for assessing nutritional risk in older adults, specifically predicting mortality and morbidity based on serum albumin and body weight) were each associated with increased mortality from pneumonia.

While high total cholesterol causes mortality risk for cardiovascular disease, excessively low total cholesterol may be associated with increased risk of mortality from pneumonia.

These results coincide with a 2008 study in young Korean soldiers (Low levels of serum cholesterol and albumin and the risk of community-acquired pneumonia in young soldiers) that showed that the risk of developing pneumonia is significantly higher in military trainees who have low levels of cholesterol and albumin.

Cholesterol is essential for the body, as it is a structural component of cell membranes, helps in the production of hormones (such as cortisol, estrogen, testosterone), synthesizes vitamin D and helps in the production of bile acids for digestion. It is also vital for brain function and maintaining the elasticity of the arteries.

Always trying to keep cholesterol at the lowest levels in the body probably does not offer disease prevention and longevity.

The upper cholesterol levels in the 1970s and until the mid-1980s were 280 to 240 mg/dL, then they dropped to 220 and now they are below 200 while some laboratories give normal values ​​below 170 mg/dL !!!

Instead of trying to re-educate people about a healthy and balanced diet by significantly reducing processed foods and excessive amounts of red meat, in order to limit health problems, we constantly lower cholesterol values ​​(and other elements) by consuming drugs so that we do not have heart disease, thus creating other kinds of problems and diseases.

It is not ethical to have a treatment goal of 70 mg/dL cholesterol without relying on any evidence from clinical trials, simply to sell statins. The target of pharmaceutical companies is not patients but healthy people. There are more healthy people, so they offer a higher profit margin.

Critical thinking, that is, the ability to think logically, methodically, and independently, so as to evaluate information, arguments, and opinions with distinction and depth, judging the reliability of information and drawing well-founded conclusions instead of being influenced by emotions, authorities, or stereotypes, will help us choose truly healthy habits and not habits that are offered to us as healthy.


Sources of the article:
Serum cholesterol as a predictor of mortality among the elderly patients with pneumonia in the emergency department
Major Lipids and Future Risk of Pneumonia: 20 year Observation of the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study Cohort
History in medicine: the story of cholesterol, lipids and cardiology
Cholesterol Lowering Guidelines: From Whence We Came and Where We Are Now

Article that may help:
Funding of scientific articles by industry