Nutritional "education" in the U.S. is woeful. Some people are still worried about eating eggs and other products because of their "cholesterol"... Same with different fats, including mono-/poly- saturated/unsaturated fats - many people just lump it all together, but then replace butter with margarine or eat the worst processed foods because of "low fat, low calories" on the labels.
Just like it has been shown recently that increasing the level of HDL and higher ratio of HDL to LDL is more important and beneficial than concentrating on reducing the overall "cholesterol" level, most people don't know about it.
A VERY big part of the point I was trying to make is what you are saying.
Nutritionally, I would bet that more than 90% of people would say
cholesterol=heart attacks
And this MYTH continues to be propagated today.
It just ain’t so.