In a recent episode of the Joe Rogan Experience, Joe Rogan and nutrition researcher Chris Masterjohn, PhD, aimed at the decades-long war on cholesterol and saturated fat, and singled out a specific moment they believe played a huge role in reshaping America’s eating habits.
Masterjohn called out the 1984 Time magazine cover that showed a frowning face made out of bacon and eggs with the headline: “Cholesterol: And Now the Bad News.”
The article inside strongly urged Americans to cut back on cholesterol-heavy foods, reinforcing a message that, according to Masterjohn, told people to “hold the eggs and butter.”
“They really did that,” Rogan said, visibly stunned while looking at the image.
“They actually reversed it a few years ago,” Masterjohn said, “where they took the same image, but they made it a smiley face, and they were like, ‘Now we know eggs are good for you.'”
Rogan expressed strong frustration about the impact that cover had on public health and nutrition. “How many lives did you ruin with your sh*tty advice? It’s so stunning. Ruined society. Ruined diets—for what? $50,000.”
The number refers to a scandal from earlier decades where sugar industry players allegedly paid scientists to downplay the risks of sugar and instead blame fat and cholesterol for heart disease.
The Real Role of Cholesterol
Masterjohn explained that cholesterol is critical for human health. It helps build hormones like testosterone, supports brain function, and aids digestion by helping produce bile acids.
“If your cholesterol is turning over and it’s being used to make bile acids to support your digestion, it’s being used to make adrenal hormones and sex hormones… all those things that cholesterol does are incredibly important,” he said.
But he noted that high cholesterol can sometimes reflect a body that isn’t properly using it, not necessarily that cholesterol itself is the problem.
Why Seed Oils Came In
The episode also took a deeper dive into seed oils, which were heavily promoted in the wake of anti-fat messaging.
Masterjohn pointed to the Minnesota Coronary Survey, a large randomized controlled trial that replaced saturated fats with seed oils.
Originally, the results showed only a mild increase in heart disease risk. But years later, researchers uncovered unpublished data stored in the basement of the lead investigator’s home.
That data showed the group consuming seed oils actually had double the atherosclerosis.
Even more alarming, every 35 mg/dL drop in cholesterol levels was linked to a 30% increase in heart disease, based on that data.
“The atherosclerosis results and the correlations that were buried in those boxes show that… the seed oils look a lot worse,” Masterjohn said.
Misguided Health Advice
Rogan criticized how these outdated ideas still influence people today.
“I tell people I eat mostly meat, they go, ‘What about your cholesterol?’… Higher LDL cholesterol is actually associated with longer lifespans,” he claimed.
While both Rogan and Masterjohn acknowledged that extremely high cholesterol might indicate metabolic issues, they agreed that simply lowering cholesterol through seed oils or cutting out animal fats doesn’t necessarily result in better health.
“That correlation exists, but not everything that you do with your diet to change it to try to make the correlation work in your favor does you good,” Masterjohn said.
The Bigger Picture
The conversation underscored how nutrition science has been shaped by flawed studies, industry pressure, and media oversimplification.
And to Rogan, the 1984 Time magazine cover remains a prime example of how damaging that combination can be.
“People started eating margarine and seed oil and stopped eating butter… cholesterol, which is, you know, the building blocks for hormones.”
With more people revisiting long-held beliefs about fat and cholesterol, this episode added fuel to the ongoing debate over what actually keeps people healthy, and what might have set them back.