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

Dr. Malcolm Kendrick (Author)
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"[The Great Cholesterol Con] will save you a lot of heartache—LITERALLY!"  —Examiner.com

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.

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Product Details

  • Paperback: 238 pages
  • Publisher: John Blake; 1 edition (October 1, 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1844546101
  • ISBN-13: 978-1844546107
  • Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #68,426 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
    #36 in  Books > Health, Mind & Body > Aging > Heart Disease

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More About the Author

Malcolm Kendrick
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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Inside This Book (learn more)
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
metabolic syndrome, overall mortality data, total mortality data, cholesterol hypothesis, raised cholesterol level, atorvastatin group, statin trials, low cholesterol level, statins work, saturated fat consumption, taking statins, neurohormonal system
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Ancel Keys, The Lancet, Asian Indians, Australian Aboriginals, American Heart Association, Framingham Study, New England Journal of Medicine, Surgeon General, Study Type, Journal of the American Medical Association, Linus Pauling, World Health Organization, South Asian, Heart Protection Study, Karl Popper, Professor Sir Charles George, Henry Blackburn, National Institutes of Health, Seven Countries Study, Whitehall Study, American Journal of Epidemiology, Professor Michael Oliver, British Heart Foundation, Simon Broome
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The Great Cholesterol Con: The Truth About What Really Causes Heart Disease and How to Avoid It
66% buy the item featured on this page:
The Great Cholesterol Con: The Truth About What Really Causes Heart Disease and How to Avoid It 4.3 out of 5 stars (45)
$10.85
Fat and Cholesterol are Good for You
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Fat and Cholesterol are Good for You 4.7 out of 5 stars (15)
$26.10
Good Calories, Bad Calories: Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health (Vintage)
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Good Calories, Bad Calories: Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health (Vintage) 4.5 out of 5 stars (282)
$11.53
The Great Cholesterol Con
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The Great Cholesterol Con 4.8 out of 5 stars (46)
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Customer Reviews

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Average Customer Review
4.3 out of 5 stars (45 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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75 of 75 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Can lowering cholesterol be worse than cholesterol?, December 6, 2007
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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.
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83 of 91 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Could be a lot better, March 28, 2008
This review is from: The Great Cholesterol Con: The Truth About What Really Causes Heart Disease and How to Avoid It (Paperback)
At first glance this book seems very well researched and written, and essential reading for anyone taking statins or concerned about cholesterol levels.

Dr Kendrick criticises research into the saturated fat - cholesterol - heart disease link, on the basis that most of the researchers involved in this field had set out to prove this link rather than studying it objectively. The author then seems to apply similarly biased thinking to try to prove his own theory that stress is the primary cause of heart disease.

Dr Kendrick is right to point out that a number of countries with high saturated fat consumption and low incidence of heart disease have been conveniently ignored by those trying to prove the diet-heart hypothesis. The author makes no attempt however to find other explanations for this. A lot of research is being carried out into homocysteine which is a non-essential amino acid that has been found to be very irritating to the outer lining of the arterial wall. Homocysteine is produced when there is insufficient folic acid, B12 and B6 in the body to convert methionine (found abundantly in animal meats) into cysteine, which can be excreted by the kidneys. Interestingly, populations with high saturated fat intake and low incidence of CHD all seem to have high consumption of these B vitamins in their diets, as well as Omega 3 fatty acids which are known to be cardio protective. Has this been conveniently ignored by Dr Kendrick because is doesn't fit his stress-heart hypothesis?

I work in the field of cardiac rehabilitation and it is an area where a multi-disciplinary approach is required. Diet, activity levels, smoking, pharmacology and stress are all major factors and trying to suggest that one factor is more important than the others is, in my opinion, completely wrong.

For a book written predominantly about stress and heart disease, the practical advice on reducing / dealing with stress is a disappointing page and a half postscript.

The book is very good at showing some of the misinformation that does exist about cholesterol and heart disease and explaining some of the problems with statins and some of the research that has been carried out by drug companies. If however, you are looking for a book to help improve the health of your heart, then this book on it's own is not comprehensive enough.
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50 of 53 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars excellent, May 20, 2007
By Paul (Boston MA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   
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.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Everybody Used to Know This
The Great Cholesterol Con by Dr. Malcolm Kendrick is splendid! Kendrick is funny as well as insightful. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Morley Evans

5.0 out of 5 stars An entertaining book about a serious subject
I've previously reviewed Uffe Ravnskov's book on the same subject - "Fat and cholesterol are good for you". Read more
Published 2 months ago by Iona Tamsin Stewart

4.0 out of 5 stars ANOTHER STATIN DROP-OUT
Great to have one's suspicions documented! I'm one of the growing number of people with genetically determined high cholesterol for whom statins cause serious side effects. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Helen Epstein

5.0 out of 5 stars CHOLESTROL
This is a must-read book for anyone debating whether or not to take something to lower cholesterol.
Published 4 months ago by Glen Mowrey

3.0 out of 5 stars Good overview and thought provoking.
The author does a great job of explaining a basic overview of the process by which the body actually makes cholesterol, pointing you in the direction of further information if... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Rane J. Kocan

5.0 out of 5 stars About time.....
I think this guy hits the nail on the head. I've always been suspicious of all these statins since personally knowing so many people who've had to get knee operations from them... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Susan

2.0 out of 5 stars A lot of theory with a lack of science
Dr. Malcolm Kendrick is a G.P. in the United Kingdom and argues that stress is the main cause of heart disease. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Evan Gillespie

5.0 out of 5 stars Statins are a blood thinner; aspirin is cheaper
As a person who has stuck to a low-fat diet and exercise to try to lower my cholesterol, only to see it rise dramatically instead, I had a keen interest in reading this book... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Molly

4.0 out of 5 stars Goog info on a scam.
Someone is finally explaining in detail of how the current ideas of cholesterol came about. Funny, sarcastic, informative.
Published 6 months ago by J. Wallace

3.0 out of 5 stars Raises good points but problems too
I'm glad I read the reviews that commented on Kendrick's sarcasm--the book would be much better without it, but because I was prepared I could get past it. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Sodakgrrl

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