The Cholesterol Myths: Exposing the Fallacy that Saturated Fat and Cholesterol Cause Heart Disease [Paperback]

Very early in this book, the author brings up an important concept. And if there is a significant flaw in this book, it is that the author never really brought that concept up again in book. That concept is the scientific method. Remember that you were taught the scientific method when you were younger. Simply stated it is:
1. Question - What is happening?
2. Hypothesis - I think this is what is happening.
3. Prediction - I predict x will happen when y happens.
4. Testing - Test to see that x happens when y happens.

With this mind, the author doesn't have to be right about everything he lists in this book. Not even 10% of it has to be right. Only a few things have to be right, and, if so, you HAVE to throw out the concept that saturate fat and cholesterol cause heart disease. But it hasn't been thrown out like it should, so Dr. Ravnskov wrote this book so that you and I would know the truth.

Dr. Ravnskov does an excellent job of breaking down this issue into 9 myths (high-fat foods cause heart disease, high cholesterol causes heart disease, high-fat foods raise blood cholesterol, cholesterol blocks arteries, animal studies prove the diet-heart idea, lowering your cholesterol will lengthen your life, polyunsaturated oils are good for you, the cholesterol campaign is based on good science, and all scientists support the diet-heart idea). For each of these myths, he walks through what has been stated and introduces the reader to what the relevant studies are, what they mean, flaws with a number of those studies, and a number of studies that do not support the myth (go back to the scientific method...if even one is true, you HAVE to throw out the theory). He also takes the time to walk the reader through the meaning of the statistics in case you aren't familar with correlation coefficients, relative risks, base rates, etc.

Even better for those of you still having doubts, Dr. Ravnskov has referenced everything he talks about so you can examine the actual studies and papers yourself (28 pages worth of references). This is the ammunition if you need to duke it out with your doctor...and a great defense for those relatives who think you are killing yourself and keep commenting on your diet.

I have read a number of books on various diets, so I was familiar with a number of the arguments. For example, many others have brought up the ridiculous relative risk that you see so often in reports where they don't really have any evidence. However, I did find a number of surprising pieces of information:
- The Masai tribe (only eats blood, meat, and milk) have among the lowest levels of serum cholesterol ever recorded.
- Polyunsaturated fats (which are constantly pushed in the media as being good for you) are free radicals and, if they don't cause cancer, certainly seem to be a factor in causing cancer
- Statins do help with heart disease (lowering cholesterol is just a side effect), but also have been shown to increase cancer (not sure which I'd prefer)
- Most studies done by the diet-heart proponents have included people with a genetic defect called hyper cholesterolemia, so even if those studies did find something (which they really didn't), they don't apply to 99% or more of us.

Remember, it doesn't matter who is right; it matters what is right. This is a great book to help you down the path of finding out what is right.

With cholesterol lowering drugs about $1000/year one can see the pressures to prescribe them from their makers, as a friend cardiologist was just offered $5000 simply to provide names for a cholesterol study -he called it a bribe and moved on.

The TV and print ads suggest dire consequences from cholesterol and it is easy to see that most people and doctors fear the stuff. Busy doctors may -out of fear of law suits or lack of time to read the studies- follow guidelines that in the U.S. and Canada were overwhelmingly written by those receiving payment from the drug companies [that alone is a scandal by itself].

This book shows the science and reveals the fact that lowering cholesterol by any means does not reduce mortality rates, that there are peoples with high cholesterol without heart disease and that, at the very least, the science for lowering cholesterol in virtually anybody is rotten.

The largest North American cholesterol lowering trial ever [2002 ALLHAT] and the largest trial in the world with the #1 selling cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor [2003 ASCOT] showed mortality after 3 or 6 years that was totally identical, while a trial in elderly [2002 PROSPER] showed increased cancer and also nobody saved. The science in women is even worse than in men.

An early trial, EXCEL, was stopped at 11 months at a 2.75x greater mortality from the drug -but for the next 5 years we have publications as to how well the stuff [Mevacor] is tolerated [nobody keels over instantly] and how well it reduces "bad" cholesterol. I bet your doctor would like to know that.

I've seen Dr. Ravnskov give talks to three large U.S. medical audiences and you could feel the collective relief that here we have a widely published fellow doctor who has analyzed the science and found cholesterol not to be a cardiovascular boogie man -which, in their hearts they knew but may have doubted.

I suggest that if you are concerned about cholesterol you read this book, AND then give it to your doctor or cardiologist.

Other reviewers pointed out that the book gives few tips for heart disease prevention -that is not the book's purpose- and for that McCully's "The Heart Revolution" book [ISBN 0060929731] is probably best. In fact, get both books and take turns with your doctor reading them. A fine book. Eddie Vos www.health-heart.org E-mail: vos@health-heart.org

As its subtitle states, The Cholesterol Myths exposes the fallacy that saturated fat and cholesterol cause heart disease. Dr. Ravnskov is no "wacko"; his book is well-annotated and examines many of the major relevant studies over the past 50 years. I've checked a few of the references myself and have found them accurate. I've checked literature available on the AHA and NHLBI websites and seen for myself how they distort the truth.

In one example, the NHLBI states flatly that "international studies find that CHD is uncommon in cultures with low levels of serum cholesterol, even when... hypertension and cigarette smoking is relatively high." A check of the footnotes cited the "Seven Countries" study and "MONICA" project, both taken to task in Dr. Ravnskov's book. What the NHLBI did was choose only a few of the datapoints from these studies (Japan, China), where their statement was indeed true -- but they conveniently ignored all 25 or so other datapoints which clearly showed that overall there was no correlation between countries' cholesterol levels and CHD whatsoever!

A major contribution of Myths is its explanation of the way pro-cholesterol myth "scientists" and the drug companies use the "relative reduction" method of presenting their "wonder drugs'" value. If I, for example, take no drugs, my chances of a cadiac event might be 6% over the next 10 years. If I take statins for ten years, this might go down to 3%, which the drug companies present as a reduction of 50%! Sounds good, but the more sensible view would be to say that if I take no drugs, there's a 94% chance that nothing will happen to me, and if I take statins, there's a 97% chance -- wow, a whopping 3% gain! Would *you* take a drug (that can screw up your liver and muscles) for the rest of your life to go from 94% to 97%? Not me! This expose of statins is another fantastic contribution to medical common sense, and there are many more.

The Cholesterol Myths is simply a must-read.