Fact or big fat lie: is cholesterol really a killer?

Every time I turn on the radio I get hit with another bit of bad nutrition advice. A while ago it was the canola people telling us to chow down on more of this processed gloop for our hearts' sake, ha ha.

Now it's the people punting a weird oat-based product, GlucaChol-22, who are persuading us that the oat-beta-glucan in their product will do more good things for our hearts.

More hollow laughter from my side. Why? Because the reason they say their oat concoction is so heart-healthy is that it lowers cholesterol. Well that, I have to tell you for once and for all, is the exact reason you shouldn't be taking the stuff.

It's an astonishing thing, the staying-power of the cholesterol-heart hypothesis. A theory based on truly terrible science and sustained through vested interests, it has altered and damaged our health in ways which we'll only realise in decades to come.

The notion that both saturated fat and cholesterol are killers started the craze for low-fat food in the latter part of the twentieth century, and it's a myth that's become the unshakeable conviction of doctors and nutritionists ever since.

It doesn't matter that there are many communities who basically survive on fatty foods and have hardly any heart disease; it doesn't count that since the advocacy of the cholesterol-lowering diet, heart disease is still very present; it matters not one jot that the only "research" which shows a link between raised cholesterol and greater heart disease is funded by the companies that sell cholesterol-lowering drugs.

The very worst thing you could do is try to lower your body's natural cholesterol levels. It's a vital molecule which your body makes because - yes, just like the other molecules it makes - it needs it! It's vital for everything from brain health (which is why people on statins often suffer memory problems) to hormone production.

Just stop stressing about the cholesterol in your diet. Stress is in fact a very real cause of heart disease because raised cortisol levels are bad news for arteries, which is also the reason why some relaxing, moderate drinking is linked to longer life.

You might want to stress if your cholesterol is too low, though. Several pieces of independent research show a link between lower cholesterol and early mortality. How can this be, you ask? Well, as journalist Gary Taubes put it: "The history of science is littered with failed hypotheses based on selective interpretation of the evidence."

A growing number of doctors, nutritionists and researchers understand that the cholesterol theory is one such blunder. It's going to take a while for the blunder to be generally acknowledged (this would cost Big Pharma millions), so in the meanwhile be ahead of the curve: chuck out the statin prescription and spend that money on the best butter imaginable and a bottle of great wine.

• This article was originally published in The Times.