About ninety million people in the U.S. are on a statin drug for lowering cholesterol. The mechanism of how a statin drug works and its side effects are usually dismissed because of the dangerous perception high cholesterol represents. The mevalonate pathway is a sequence of cellular reactions leading to the synthesis of cholesterol, dolichol, ubiquinol (Coenzyme Q10), sex hormones, and protein synthesis. Anyone who is on a statin should understand how a statin can influence all these other processes.

About three and a half years ago I wrote a newsletter about the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) and discussed the growing influence of this organization, which is part of the United Nations, has on health policies around the world. Specifically, it seems to have changed much of its focus from improving health in third world countries by improving living conditions with clean water, access to medical care etc. to pandemic preparedness and the implementation of a vaccine response in that event. What raised concern for me, and others, was that seventy-five percent of the donations to the W.H.O. come from private donors, pharmaceutical companies, and foundations like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, not member governments. Oftentimes those donors earmark their donations for specific purposes, which begs the question about what motives those private donors might want in the way of policy changes about how the W.H.O. operates. In short, according to Dr. Meryl Nass “the W.H.O. dances to the tune of its donors, not its members.”

Traditional diets from around the world have used animal fat in their diets for thousands of years. Lard is from a monogastric animal such as a pig, although some people believe Duck fat is a form of lard, and tallow is from ruminant animals (animals that eat mainly grass and have multiple stomachs). This would be cows, sheep, and deer.  Is there a difference between lard and tallow?  Does one offer advantages the other does not?  Why have modern humans replaced lard and tallow as a treatment for skincare with artificial ingredients such as phthalates, parabens, seed oils, and petroleum derived chemicals?  

In both cases lard and tallow are rendered, which means the fat was heated to remove any water, separate the fat from organs and then cooled. The fat from a pig usually is harvested from under the skin at the belly, its back or around the kidney.  The lard from around the kidney of a pig is called leaf lard, is creamier, and softer than the belly or back fat with a less porky taste.