The New 8-Week Cholesterol Cure [Mass Market Paperback]

Robert E. Kowalski (Author)

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Robert E. Kowalski a medical journalist for more than thirty-five years, devised this program for his own cholesterol problem when all else failed. He lives in California.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: HarperTorch (October 31, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060564601
• ISBN-13: 978-0060564605
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #49,978 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #2 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Professional & Technical > Medical > Medicine > Internal Medicine > Cardiology
  • #2 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Medicine > Internal Medicine
  • #6 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Health, Mind & Body > Disorders & Diseases > Heart Disease

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

73 of 74 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great, practical guide for lowering cholesterol. Worked for this MD!, January 11, 2007

By 

big farm "BF" (New England, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The New 8-Week Cholesterol Cure (Mass Market Paperback)

This is truly and excellent book. A well-written, practical guide for lowering your cholesterol.

I am an MD and my cholesterol "before" was TOTAL: 278, LDL 188, HDL 36, TRIGS. 221. I followed his program, and after just under the 8 weeks, TOTAL 204, LDL 119, HDL 50, TRIGS 147.

Most of what he says makes lots of sense and is backed up by lots of good, solid, medical eveidence. Honestly, I was skeptical of some of what he said, and pulled up the primary journal references, and reviewed, and the evidence was indeed quite good. THIS IS ESPECIALLY TRUE REGARDING NIACIN IN GENERAL AND ENDURACIN IN PARTICULAR!!! Don't miss that last point. This really could save your life and obviate need for statins and other things, which are not necessarily medically evil as some seem to think, but are really not the best for most, as Kowalski points out. BUT, I do think he under-plays the fact that statins probably are best for those with very high LDL, especially, if they cannot reach target LDL level with niacin---but niaicin could help need less statin.

Now, why not 5 stars? 1) Despite being based on good solid evidence, his book is till a bit too anecdotal "me" "the docs I've spoken with", etc.
2) Some things he says are scientifcally a bit suspect---"I've only heard thousands of satisfied people over 20 years"---well that itself is what we call reporting bias---those who tried and failed or had other complaints are very unlikely to write to the author unless they have a real axe to grind. So I would not go in thinking this has a 100% success rate!

Similarly he keeps saying things around studies like " those who started with the highest levels had the biggest changes." We call this "regressiion to the mean". It means that a drug that tends to normalize things will necessarily make a bigger jump for those who are worse off to start. So the drug really is doing the same thing no matter where you are staring from.

3) Enduracin is dirt cheap. But if you start using everything else he suggests as little adjuncts, it really starts to get expensive for the poor or middle class. For example, if you take the Endur phytosterols with every meal, or the Profibe fiber he suggests 3 times daily, and the Pantesin, you've just added about $75 per month. Now that is rough, because I DO think those things help, especially to get a bit more LDL lowering, on top of the Enduracin. But he needs to address teh cost issue head on.

OVERALL: Get the book, discuss with your doc. Try it. If your doc won't give you the 4-6 mos. to try this, fire him!!! Really...because this really could save your life in a very well-tolerated way. But as always, keep up a bit of healthy skepticism ;-)

53 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Detailed, comprehensive and accurate, April 24, 2005

By 

Martin C. Martin (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The New 8-Week Cholesterol Cure (Mass Market Paperback)

This is a great book for those who want all the details on how to proect your heart, against cholesterol and other heart disease risk factors. The author is trained in both journalism and science, and after suffering one heart attack and thinking about leaving his kids fatherless, he "got religion." He now reads all the medical research on heart health, distilling it down and explaining it to the lay reader. He has the right attitude, only trusting studies that have good methodology and have been replicated.

He considers diet, including fruits and vegetables, fats, meats, soluble fiber and alcohol. He goes over the research on antioxidents and other supplements, including the vitamin that works better than prescription drugs: niacin. He also covers stress and exercise.

Heart disease is completely preventable. If you have high cholesterol or other risk factors, this book will set you straight on what works and what doesn't. My doctor agrees with the parts he's read, and the information here is in agreement with other sources like the American Heart Association website and webmd.com.

If what you want is an owners manual for your heart, a book length treatment that mentions all the important studies and their results, then this book is for you. For me and my nurse mother-in-law, this is the bible on heart health.

41 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you only buy one health book, this should be it!, September 12, 2005

By 

T. Ussery - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The New 8-Week Cholesterol Cure (Mass Market Paperback)

If you want to quickly and easily be able to speak with your doctor about heart disease on a PEER-TO-PEER basis, buy this book. You are looking at the only review I have ever written about anything. I am writing this after reading the very negative reveiw left by Gadgester. I do not know what "Top 50 Reviewer" means, but it sounds important. However, His/Her statements are so opposite of what is in this book, I did not what else to do, other than to write this. The book is purely scientific and presents the findings and shortcomings of virtually every medical study performed on heart disease in the past five decades. The Bibliography of the medical studies discussed in the book is 14 pages long! The information is presented in easy understandable and organized fashion. Proof positive - by following the guidelines of this book (actually it is the guidelines set forth by the hundreds of medical studies referenced, I reduced my cholesterol from the high risk category to the low risk category in four months and established habits that will keep it low for the rest of my life. The only problem is this books title - "8-Week Cholesterol Cure" makes it sound too fadish. This book is pure gold.