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The Cholesterol Myths: Exposing the Fallacy That Saturated Fat and Cholesterol Cause Heart Disease
A highly qualified doctor and scientist analyzes the studies used to justify the cholesterol hypothesis and demonstrates that the idea that animal fats and cholesterol cause heart disease is based on flimsy, even fraudulent evidence and wishful thinking. Includes a discussion on the dangers of vegetable oils and cholesterol-lowering drugs.
297 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
August 13, 2016
This book explains in very easy to understand language that common myths about fat and cholesterol include that:
- High fat foods cause heart disease.
- High cholesterol levels cause heart disease.
- High-fat foods (especially those high in saturated fats) raise blood cholesterol.
- Cholesterol clogs your arteries and so do saturated fats.
- Animal studies prove the saturated fat and high cholesterol = heart disease theory
- Lowering your cholesterol level will lengthen your life.
- Eating only or primarily polyunsaturated oils is good for you.
- The anti-saturated fat and low-cholesterol campaign is based on good science.
- All scientists support the saturated fat and high cholesterol = heart disease theory.
Instead of this book being one long block of text the book is broken up into sections, each one dealing with one of the myths listed above and why it isn't correct. (Note that I haven't listed the exact titles here, I've paraphrased them slightly.) I thought that having these different sections each dealing with a specific set of facts and evidence made the information a bit easier to take in.
The section at the end where the author gave information about some of the other experts in this field that are also doing what they can to make the public aware that the lipid hypothesis is unscientific, was also very good. The quotes given by each of them were just excellent. They cut right to the point!
The author lays out fact upon fact in this book in a very convincing and logical way. The facts are so shocking. The way the public has been manipulated for profit is appalling. This information is something that very much needs to be more widely known. This book, and the other books by this author on this topic, deserve to be widely read.
The book is also occasionally bitingly sarcastic and very funny. I'd highly recommend it.
Much of the same information in this book is included in the excellent Good Calories, Bad Calories: Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health (Vintage) by Gary Taubes. This book also explains why 'calories in, calories out' is bunkum and why low fat diets are not healthy. Books such as Know Your Fats : The Complete Primer for Understanding the Nutrition of Fats, Oils and Cholesterol, Deep Nutrition: Why Your Genes Need Traditional Food and Eat Fat, Lose Fat: The Healthy Alternative to Trans Fats are also good choices for anyone that wants to read more about this topic and what really constitutes a healthy diet.
Some of the great quotes from this book:
--------
``But what about heart disease?' This is the response of many Americans when advised to consume the foods of their ancestors, foods like butter, whole milk, eggs and meat. Fear of saturated fat and cholesterol has put a solid brick wall between the consumer and satisfying nutritious food - and filled the coffers of the food processing industry.' Sally Fallon
`The fourth and last wrong measure of probability I shall take notice of, and which keeps in ignorance or error more people than all the other together, is... the giving up our assent to the common received opinions, either of our friends or party, neighbourhood or country. How many men have no other ground for their tenets, than the supposed honesty, or learning, or number of those of the same profession? As if honest or bookish men could not err; or truth were to be established by the vote of the multitude: yet this with most men serves the turn. If we could but see the secret motives that influenced the men of name and learning in the world, and the leaders of parties, we should not always find that it was the embracing of truth for its own sake, that made them espouse the doctrines they owned and maintained.' John Locke
`Frankly, the recommendation of the American Heart Association, government health agencies, and the media, -- that people switch from saturated fats to polyunsaturated vegetable oils -- has probably killed and crippled more Americans than both World Wars." Former brain surgeon Russell Blaylock MD
The cholesterol campaign is "the greatest scientific deception of this century, perhaps of any century." Physician and scientist George Mann
"The public is so brainwashed, that many people believe that the lower your cholesterol, the healthier you will be or the longer you will live. Nothing could be further from the truth." Paul Rosch MD FACP
"If you have come to believe you can ward off death from heart disease by altering the amount of cholesterol in your blood, whether by diet or by drugs, you are following a regime that has no basis in fact." Edward Pinckney MD former co-editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association
"The current campaign to convince every American to change his or her diet, and in many cases to initiate drug `therapy' for life is based on fabrications, erroneous interpretations and/or gross exaggerations of findings and, very importantly, the ignoring of massive amounts of unsupportive data." Russell Smith MD
"The idea that saturated fats cause heart disease is completely wrong, but the statement has been "published" so many times over the last three or more decades that it is very difficult to convince people otherwise unless they are willing to take the time to read and learn what all the economic and political factors were that produced the anti-saturated fat agenda." Mary Enig PhD
"Fearing to lose their soft money funding, the academicians who should speak up and stop this wasteful anti science are strangely quiet. Their silence has delayed a solution for coronary heart disease by a generation. Those who manipulate data do not appreciate that understanding the nature of things cannot be permanently distorted - the true explanations cannot be permanently ignored. Inexorably, truth is revealed and deception is exposed. ...In due time truth will come out. This is the relieving grace in this sorry sequence." Professor Mann
"Your fear of dying--if you happen to be one of the great many people who suffer from this morbid preoccupation- may well have made you a victim of the cholesterol controversy. For, if you have come to believe that you can ward off death from heart disease by altering the amount of cholesterol in your blood, whether by diet or by drugs, you are following a regime that still has no basis in fact. Rather, you as a consumer, have been taken in by certain commercial interests and health groups who are more interested in your money than your life." Professor Mann's
"One must be bold indeed to attempt to persuade large segments of the populations of the world to change their accustomed diets and to threaten important branches of agriculture and agribusiness with the results of such uncontrolled, primitive, trial and error type explorations. Certainly modern science is capable of better research when so much is at stake." Raymond Reiser
"The public is so brainwashed, that many people believe that the lower your cholesterol, the healthier you will be or the longer you will live. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The cholesterol cartel of drug companies, manufacturers of low fat foods, blood testing devices, and others with huge vested financial interests have waged a highly successful promotional campaign. Their power is so great that they have infiltrated medical and governmental regulatory agencies that would normally protect us from such unsubstantiated dogma.
The current campaign to convince every American to change his or her diet and, in many cases, to initiate drug "therapy" for life is based on fabrications, erroneous interpretations and/or gross exaggerations of findings and, very importantly, the ignoring of massive amounts of unsupportive data...It does not seem possible that objective scientists without vested interests could ever interpret the literature as supportive." Professor Rosch
-----
Jodi Bassett, The Hummingbirds' Foundation for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis
- High fat foods cause heart disease.
- High cholesterol levels cause heart disease.
- High-fat foods (especially those high in saturated fats) raise blood cholesterol.
- Cholesterol clogs your arteries and so do saturated fats.
- Animal studies prove the saturated fat and high cholesterol = heart disease theory
- Lowering your cholesterol level will lengthen your life.
- Eating only or primarily polyunsaturated oils is good for you.
- The anti-saturated fat and low-cholesterol campaign is based on good science.
- All scientists support the saturated fat and high cholesterol = heart disease theory.
Instead of this book being one long block of text the book is broken up into sections, each one dealing with one of the myths listed above and why it isn't correct. (Note that I haven't listed the exact titles here, I've paraphrased them slightly.) I thought that having these different sections each dealing with a specific set of facts and evidence made the information a bit easier to take in.
The section at the end where the author gave information about some of the other experts in this field that are also doing what they can to make the public aware that the lipid hypothesis is unscientific, was also very good. The quotes given by each of them were just excellent. They cut right to the point!
The author lays out fact upon fact in this book in a very convincing and logical way. The facts are so shocking. The way the public has been manipulated for profit is appalling. This information is something that very much needs to be more widely known. This book, and the other books by this author on this topic, deserve to be widely read.
The book is also occasionally bitingly sarcastic and very funny. I'd highly recommend it.
Much of the same information in this book is included in the excellent Good Calories, Bad Calories: Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health (Vintage) by Gary Taubes. This book also explains why 'calories in, calories out' is bunkum and why low fat diets are not healthy. Books such as Know Your Fats : The Complete Primer for Understanding the Nutrition of Fats, Oils and Cholesterol, Deep Nutrition: Why Your Genes Need Traditional Food and Eat Fat, Lose Fat: The Healthy Alternative to Trans Fats are also good choices for anyone that wants to read more about this topic and what really constitutes a healthy diet.
Some of the great quotes from this book:
--------
``But what about heart disease?' This is the response of many Americans when advised to consume the foods of their ancestors, foods like butter, whole milk, eggs and meat. Fear of saturated fat and cholesterol has put a solid brick wall between the consumer and satisfying nutritious food - and filled the coffers of the food processing industry.' Sally Fallon
`The fourth and last wrong measure of probability I shall take notice of, and which keeps in ignorance or error more people than all the other together, is... the giving up our assent to the common received opinions, either of our friends or party, neighbourhood or country. How many men have no other ground for their tenets, than the supposed honesty, or learning, or number of those of the same profession? As if honest or bookish men could not err; or truth were to be established by the vote of the multitude: yet this with most men serves the turn. If we could but see the secret motives that influenced the men of name and learning in the world, and the leaders of parties, we should not always find that it was the embracing of truth for its own sake, that made them espouse the doctrines they owned and maintained.' John Locke
`Frankly, the recommendation of the American Heart Association, government health agencies, and the media, -- that people switch from saturated fats to polyunsaturated vegetable oils -- has probably killed and crippled more Americans than both World Wars." Former brain surgeon Russell Blaylock MD
The cholesterol campaign is "the greatest scientific deception of this century, perhaps of any century." Physician and scientist George Mann
"The public is so brainwashed, that many people believe that the lower your cholesterol, the healthier you will be or the longer you will live. Nothing could be further from the truth." Paul Rosch MD FACP
"If you have come to believe you can ward off death from heart disease by altering the amount of cholesterol in your blood, whether by diet or by drugs, you are following a regime that has no basis in fact." Edward Pinckney MD former co-editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association
"The current campaign to convince every American to change his or her diet, and in many cases to initiate drug `therapy' for life is based on fabrications, erroneous interpretations and/or gross exaggerations of findings and, very importantly, the ignoring of massive amounts of unsupportive data." Russell Smith MD
"The idea that saturated fats cause heart disease is completely wrong, but the statement has been "published" so many times over the last three or more decades that it is very difficult to convince people otherwise unless they are willing to take the time to read and learn what all the economic and political factors were that produced the anti-saturated fat agenda." Mary Enig PhD
"Fearing to lose their soft money funding, the academicians who should speak up and stop this wasteful anti science are strangely quiet. Their silence has delayed a solution for coronary heart disease by a generation. Those who manipulate data do not appreciate that understanding the nature of things cannot be permanently distorted - the true explanations cannot be permanently ignored. Inexorably, truth is revealed and deception is exposed. ...In due time truth will come out. This is the relieving grace in this sorry sequence." Professor Mann
"Your fear of dying--if you happen to be one of the great many people who suffer from this morbid preoccupation- may well have made you a victim of the cholesterol controversy. For, if you have come to believe that you can ward off death from heart disease by altering the amount of cholesterol in your blood, whether by diet or by drugs, you are following a regime that still has no basis in fact. Rather, you as a consumer, have been taken in by certain commercial interests and health groups who are more interested in your money than your life." Professor Mann's
"One must be bold indeed to attempt to persuade large segments of the populations of the world to change their accustomed diets and to threaten important branches of agriculture and agribusiness with the results of such uncontrolled, primitive, trial and error type explorations. Certainly modern science is capable of better research when so much is at stake." Raymond Reiser
"The public is so brainwashed, that many people believe that the lower your cholesterol, the healthier you will be or the longer you will live. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The cholesterol cartel of drug companies, manufacturers of low fat foods, blood testing devices, and others with huge vested financial interests have waged a highly successful promotional campaign. Their power is so great that they have infiltrated medical and governmental regulatory agencies that would normally protect us from such unsubstantiated dogma.
The current campaign to convince every American to change his or her diet and, in many cases, to initiate drug "therapy" for life is based on fabrications, erroneous interpretations and/or gross exaggerations of findings and, very importantly, the ignoring of massive amounts of unsupportive data...It does not seem possible that objective scientists without vested interests could ever interpret the literature as supportive." Professor Rosch
-----
Jodi Bassett, The Hummingbirds' Foundation for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis
Want to read
May 3, 2007Review by Stephen Byrnes, ND, RNCP
Would you buy a book that was literally set on fire by its critics on a television show about it in Finland? I would and so should you. The long-awaited English version of debunker extraordinaire Dr. Uffe Ravnskov's notorious book is now available from NewTrends Publishing.
Would you buy a book that was literally set on fire by its critics on a television show about it in Finland? I would and so should you. The long-awaited English version of debunker extraordinaire Dr. Uffe Ravnskov's notorious book is now available from NewTrends Publishing.
January 7, 2013
Very cool, and well organized. Ravnskov does a good job allaying the fears of those with high cholesterol and/or people whose doctors have recommended them for statin drugs. This book is out of print apparently, but there are some inexpensive, used copies on Amazon.
June 12, 2009
Thorough critique of bad science.
December 22, 2017
Best analysis I've read
This is a very through analysis of the current confusing and contradictory theories on the cause and treatment of CHD. I wish so much that I had not been deceived by my doctor and subsequently harmed greatly by years of statin treatment.
This is a very through analysis of the current confusing and contradictory theories on the cause and treatment of CHD. I wish so much that I had not been deceived by my doctor and subsequently harmed greatly by years of statin treatment.
January 16, 2018
Good points
He makes excellent arguments and pulls in many references. The book need s s better editing into English. It seems at times confusing and I believe this is due to translation.
He makes excellent arguments and pulls in many references. The book need s s better editing into English. It seems at times confusing and I believe this is due to translation.
September 24, 2017
Interesting. Short. Thought provoking - especially as a physician trained to think that all fat, and esp. saturated fat, is the cause of cardiovascular disease.
May 6, 2018
A great read
Excellent overview. Armed with more facts i can help turn the tide one patient and colleague at a time. Dr Spencer craft
Excellent overview. Armed with more facts i can help turn the tide one patient and colleague at a time. Dr Spencer craft
June 30, 2017
As someone living with Angina, I obviously have a great reason to want the medical profession to get their facts right about the issues at the core of this book. This book makes it clear that they have not done so. The author is a doctor in general practice and a medical researcher, not some crank with a "new" theory or miracle product to sell. The fact that he can write so damningly (and so convincingly) about members of his own profession adds conviction to what is already an unsettling story.
June 1, 2025
I began the Heart Disease Herbal Treatment from NaturePath Herbal Clinic, and the results have been nothing short of incredible for my condition. After using the treatment for nearly four months, I experienced a significant improvement in my heart health.
Symptoms such as chest discomfort, shortness of breath, and fatigue gradually diminished. I now feel more energetic, and my overall well-being has greatly improved.
I highly recommend reaching out to NaturePath Herbal Clinic through their website: www.naturepathherbalclinic.com. Their natural approach truly made a difference for me.
Symptoms such as chest discomfort, shortness of breath, and fatigue gradually diminished. I now feel more energetic, and my overall well-being has greatly improved.
I highly recommend reaching out to NaturePath Herbal Clinic through their website: www.naturepathherbalclinic.com. Their natural approach truly made a difference for me.
January 22, 2020
Excellent work
Highly recommended learn about heart attack and reason s surrounding .need to update with latest research findings. Otherwise real eye opener.
Highly recommended learn about heart attack and reason s surrounding .need to update with latest research findings. Otherwise real eye opener.
March 11, 2024
Somewhat antiquated with its focuses but Ravnskov's breakdown of diet-heart theory relating cholesterols and heart disease, artherosclerosis, etc. is thorough and accessible. This book is a must read for anyone interested in food, nutrition, health, living in general.
Additionally, the appendix and citations of Ravnskov are great.
Additionally, the appendix and citations of Ravnskov are great.
Read
March 27, 2011Excellent alternative point of view
October 3, 2014
Clear book on types of cholesterol and what specifically bad about them (triglycerides & type-B LDL) and tons of recommendation on good nutrition.
July 12, 2016
Turns out Cholestorol is our friend!
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews