Clinical perspective, offered as context rather than as advice. The distinction that resolves most of these threads is between what is true on average and what is true for one person. Both are real; they answer different questions and get quoted as if they were the same one.

If somebody has the primary source to hand I would rather cite it than paraphrase it.

Adding the clinical framing, because it changes how the question reads. Start from the measurement rather than the conclusion. Almost every disagreement here turns out to be two people measuring different things and comparing the numbers anyway.

LipidDoc_ATL said:

Start from the measurement rather than the conclusion.

Mine went the same way, slower.

LipidDoc_ATL said:

Start from the measurement rather than the conclusion.

There is a second half to this that has not been said yet. The version of this that has an answer is narrower than the version being asked. Narrow it and it becomes tractable; leave it broad and the thread will produce nine confident and incompatible replies.

Moderator note: good thread. Keeping it here rather than moving it, because the question is general enough to be useful. Carry on.