The Great Cholesterol Con: The Truth About What Really Causes Heart Disease and How to Avoid It (Paperback)

by Dr. Malcolm Kendrick (Author)
Key Phrases: metabolic syndrome, overall mortality data, total mortality data, Ancel Keys, The Lancet, Asian Indians (more...)

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Product Description

Statins are the so-called "wonder drugs" widely prescribed to lower blood cholesterol levels that claim to offer unparalleled protection against heart disease. Many experts claim that they are completely safe and that they are also capable of preventing a whole series of other conditions. This groundbreaking study exposes the truth behind the hype surrounding statins and reveals a number of crucial facts, including that high cholesterol levels do not cause heart disease; that high-fat diets—saturated or otherwise—do not affect blood cholesterol levels; and that for most men and all women the benefits offered by statins are negligible at best. Other data is also provided that shows that statins have many more side affects than is often acknowledged. This hard-hitting survey also points a finger at the powerful pharmaceutical industry and an unquestioning medical profession as perpetrators of the largely facetious concepts of “good” and “bad” cholesterol that are designed to convince millions of people to spend billions on statins. With clarity and wit, this appeal to common sense and scientific fact debunks common assumptions on what constitutes a healthy lifestyle and diet, as well as the idea that there is a miracle cure for heart disease.

About the Author

Dr. Malcolm Kendrick has contributed to numerous medical journals on the topic of coronary heart disease and currently runs a general practice.

Product Details

• Paperback: 238 pages
• Publisher: John Blake; 1 edition (October 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1844546101
• ISBN-13: 978-1844546107
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #25,596 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Can lowering cholesterol be worse than cholesterol?, December 6, 2007

By	A reader (NYC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Great Cholesterol Con: The Truth About What Really Causes Heart Disease and How to Avoid It (Paperback)

If you've somehow managed to sidestep the pressure to go on statins, this book will provide you with justification. Kendrick walks you, step by step, through your own physiology and bio-chemistry, and backs his contentions that cholesterol can not be the cause of heart disease by citing and summarizing published studies that bear this out. The book is technical but highly readable thanks to an easy conversational style (if your high school biology teacher had been Kendrick, you'd have understood everything and gotten an A). If you don't really care about arterial plaques and exactly how they're formed (and exactly how they're not) the take-away message is pretty much this: statins are ineffective for women, especially for women over 50 years old, and for anybody over 70 years old. Further, statistical studies may indicate that lowering cholesterol encourages cancer. Many of the points Kendrick makes here are also borne out in Gary Taubes' excellent "Good Calories, Bad Calories." Both of these books are recommended.

I also feel somewhat compelled to add this: While doctors will tell you they've rarely seen anyone with side effects from statins, among my own circle of middle-aged friends, I know 3 who've had serious problems with their livers, one who had some muscles permanently destroyed, one--a usually energetic tennis player-- who felt, for the few months he took statins, as though he had the flu, and could barely go to work-- and one who was left with ringing in the ears and a facial tic. All of these are listed as side effects of statins, as Kendrick points out.

41 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Could Be More Scientific, May 11, 2007

By	asfhgwt (PA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Great Cholesterol Con: The Truth About What Really Causes Heart Disease and How to Avoid It (Paperback)

I liked the book, and agree wholeheartedly with its conclusion that stress -- not cholesterol -- causes heart attacks. However, the author's flippant tone makes one wonder at times if he's being serious or not.

He also seems to muddy the waters somewhat, using "heart attack deaths" as the definition of "heart disease." True, death is the ultimate statistic, but I'd imagine that most readers would also be highly concerned about debilitating, non-fatal heart problems.

Heart disease isn't exactly a "fun" subject, and I'd have a preferred a more scholarly, scientific approach, such as Ravnskov's "Cholesterol Myths." Still very much worth reading, though.

40 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent , May 20, 2007

By	Paul (Boston MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Great Cholesterol Con: The Truth About What Really Causes Heart Disease and How to Avoid It (Paperback)

Superb science/medical writing. I was already familiar with a lot of the story about cholesterol misinformation, but I still found it very useful to see the issues dissected one-by-one, with comprehensive references to the relevant research studies. The author is obviously extremely well-read in this area, far beyond the main dietary studies. His final chapter about stress and heart-disease is a must-read for anyone interested in these topics, and the fact that he had been so thorough in the earlier part of the book makes me take his speculations seriously. It comes with a good dose of quirky British (actually Scottish) humor, which I enjoyed a lot.