The Great Cholesterol Myth: Why Lowering Your Cholesterol Won't Prevent Heart Disease--and the Statin-Free Plan that Will

by Jonny Bowden, Stephen T. Sinatra

The best-selling book on heart disease, updated with the latest research and clinical findings on high-fat/ketogenic diets, sugar, genetics, and other factors.

Heart disease is the #1 killer. However, traditional heart disease protocols—with their emphasis on lowering cholesterol—have it all wrong. Emerging science is showing that cholesterol levels are a poor predictor of heart disease and that standard prescriptions for lowering it, such as ineffective low-fat/high-carb diets and serious, side-effect-causing statin drugs, obscure the real causes of heart disease. Even doctors at leading institutions have been misled for years based on creative reporting of research results from pharmaceutical companies intent on supporting the $31-billion-a-year cholesterol-lowering drug industry.

The Great Cholesterol Myth reveals the real culprits of heart disease, including: inflammation, fibrinogen, triglycerides, homocysteine, belly fat, triglyceride to HDL ratios, and high glycemic levels.

Best-selling health authors Jonny Bowden, PhD, and Stephen Sinatra, MD, give readers a four-part strategy based on the latest studies and clinical findings for effectively preventing, managing, and reversing heart disease, focusing on diet, exercise, supplements, and stress and anger management. 

Myths vs. Facts

Myth: High cholesterol is the cause of heart disease.
Fact: Cholesterol is only a minor player in the cascade of inflammation which is a cause of heart disease.

Myth: Saturated fat is dangerous.
Fact: Saturated fats are not dangerous. The killer fats are the transfats from partially hydrogenated oils.
?
Myth: The higher the cholesterol, the shorter the lifespan.
Fact: Higher cholesterol protects you from gastrointestinal disease, pulmonary disease, and hemorrhagic stroke.

Myth: High cholesterol is a predictor of heart attack.
Fact: There is no correlation between cholesterol and heart attacks.

Myth: Lowering cholesterol with statin drugs will prolong your life.
Fact: There is no data to show that statins have a significant impact on longevity.

Myth: Statin drugs are safe.
Fact: Statin drugs can be extremely toxic including causing death.

Myth: Statin drugs are useful in men, women, and the elderly.
Fact: Statin drugs do the best job in middle-aged men with coronary disease.

Myth: Statin drugs are useful in middle-aged men with coronary artery disease because of its impact on cholesterol.
Fact: Statin drugs reduce inflammation and improve blood viscosity (thinning blood). Statins are extremely helpful in men with low HDL and coronary artery disease.

Genres: Health, Nonfiction, Nutrition, Science, Food, Audiobook, Medical

240 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 1, 2012

About the author

Jonny Bowden, PhD, CNS, also known as “THE ROGUE NUTRITIONIST” is a board-certified nutritionist with a master’s degree in psychology and the best-selling author of thirteen books including “The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth”, “Living Low Carb”, and “The Most Effective Natural Cures on Earth”. He has appeared on Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NBC, and CBS and Dr. Oz’s XM Radio and television shows as an expert on nutrition and weight loss, and has written or contributed to articles for dozens of print and online publications including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Us Weekly, “O” The Oprah Magazine, The Daily Beast, Vanity Fair Online, Time, Oxygen, Marie Claire, Diabetes Focus, GQ, US Weekly, Cosmopolitan, Self, Fitness, Family Circle, Allure, Men’s Heath, Prevention, Natural Health, and many other publications. Dr. Jonny is a consultant to the Natural Products Industry and serves on the scientific or medical advisory boards of several companies, including Barlean’s Organic Oils, Resverage and EuroPharma. His latest book, “The Great Cholesterol Myth”-- co-authored with renowned cardiologist Stephen Sinatra, MD.

Visit him online at www.jonnybowden.com or follow him: twitter.com/jonnybowden

Reviews

[Leftbanker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Doctors can basically go to hell for telling people to eat fat-free garbage for a generation. For the past 25 years I haven't been able to eat an egg without someone at my table pantomiming a heart attack. Lard was so uncool as to be completely absent in American supermarkets. That all changed when I moved to Spain in 2006 where people didn’t get the memo about avoiding saturated fats like the plague. This is about the third or fourth book that I have read on this topic all with this same conclusion: cholesterol isn’t the cause of heart disease, crappy trans fats are (to a certain degree).

Before I started making my own mayonnaise a few years ago I wasn’t completely sure just what this stuff was. Mayonnaise was completely vilified in America and people were urged to use fat-free mayonnaise substitutes. I don’t know what in the hell is in that Frankenstein concoction but real mayonnaise is olive oil, an egg, a little vinegar, and some salt. How could that be poison?

If you are taking statin drugs you really need to read this book as well as a few others on this subject and probably find a new doctor.

Even if all these books are wrong and I die of heart failure, it will be worth it to have been eating corn tortillas that I make with a good helping of lard. I would say that my blood chorizo levels are off the charts, too.

Almost everything we were taught about diet and nutrition was not only wrong, but lethal. This is just my anecdotal observation, but Spanish people live a long freaking time and they eat eggs and pork every day. They also walk a lot and eat tons of vegetables. Most doctors know nothing at all about nutrition and don't seem inclined to learn so they can all go eat a bag of dicks.

This video is worth watching "Fat Fiction - Full Movie - Free":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUADs...

Statins don't work:
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2...

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Doc told me my LDL cholesterol was too high, so I went out and got this book and now I have stopped worrying about it.

Hence the five stars.

Actually, what I did was get Steven Sinatra's other book on the new cardiology, and Dwight Lundell's and some others, and then I went and got a CT heart scan, which gives you a beautifully detailed picture of what's going on in and around your heart.

The results of the heart scan? Zero. So, screw this whole LDL number business, it's just a way for big pharma to make billions of dollars.

[Mr. Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a middle aged man, I went to the doctor a couple of years ago and he read the riot act at me. My LDL was too high. Rather than blindly accept his recommendation to take statins to lower my cholesterol numbers, I decided to research how to improve my health naturally - without medications.

This book adds much needed perspective to the question that many middle aged people ask themselves - what do these cholesterol numbers really mean, and do I really need to take an expensive drug (from Big Pharma) to lower my cholesterol numbers? Long story short, cholesterol is a passenger rather than a driver of cardiovascular disease. Lower cholesterol via meds is a complete scam and likely counter-productive.

To be fair, these are pretty bold statements and I'm not a MD or PhD or researcher. But Bowden makes a pretty compelling case. First and foremost, the author lays out the scam that Big Pharma is playing on all of us. There is a critical difference between absolute and relative risk.

Suppose you track 100 middle aged men over 5 years. Two of them will have a heart attack. Now give those same 100 men a statin. Only one will have a heart attack. That's an amazing 50% reduction in heart attacks, right? Wrong. It's a 1% absolute reduction in risk. The pharmaceutical companies promote the relative risk reduction because it sounds AMAZING and they make loads of money selling statins; however, the absolute risk reduction is negligible given the side effects of statins. Worse yet, the absolute risk of type 2 diabetes goes up 5% (as I recall from the book) when you take statins! Do you really want to reduce your risk of heart disease by 1% and suffer all sorts of side effects (including muscle pain, weakness, ED, and more) only to increase your risk of diabetes by 5%? Hell no.

Also worth bringing up in that LDL is a blanket term that covers both 'good' LDL and 'dangerous' high-density LDL. Without understanding the nature of the LDL in a particular person's blood, you have no idea of whether or not that LDL is healthy or unhealthy.

At the end of the day, LDL is a passenger. If you have high triglycerides, low HDL, and other markers of cardiovascular/metabolic disease, you need to attack the root cause: inflammation. The standard American diet (high simple carbohydrates, vegetable oils, factory farmed meats and dairy) is causing chronic inflammation and drives insulin resistance in the body.

The answer is redonkulously simple: eat real food. Eat food that your great grandparents would've recognized as food. If it's in a box, has plastic wrapping, and so on, it is probably not food. It's probably a food product.

Three stars out of five. The book expanded my knowledge of cholesterol and exposed the scam that Big Pharma is pulling on all of us, but it was a book that I was happy to put down in the end. Lots of information and not quite as readable as I had hoped for.

[Jessaka · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an eye opener

I had listened to a doctor on a talk show that was telling people that it was good to eat lard, but I didn’t know exactly who she was and what elsee she had to say.
Years ago, I used margarine because I thought that it was good for you, but then I read a book that said that butter was better for you, so I switched. As of lately, my doctor wanted me on statin drugs, so I looked up the side effects and refused to take them, using Red Yeast Rice capsules instead, but even they could cause liver damage. Now this book. I threw out my Red Yeast Rice and will forget about cholesterol. And I am chaiang my diet.

The book is well documented, and it makes sense. It is a must read for anyone who has been told to take statin drugs, but then again, everyone should read it.

I had to order lard online because most lard is part hydrogenated. You can’t get it in our stores here. So, it is quite expensive. Still, it looks like olive oil is okay as is coconut oil, and one can cook with either, or at least I think you can. Problem is, I grew tired of reading the book when it came to stress reduction and only found a recipe using olive oil in th3e last chapters. And the hard part is getting my husband to quit using vegetable oils, which is why I got the lard. He might like its flavor.

Getting people to let go of their doctor’s orders is the hard part. I have always been rebellious, and when my doctor wanted me on blood pressure pills, I refused. I found that taking magnesium/potassium does the trick. Now, if only I could find a book on how to get rid of allergies, because I am not about to take drugs

[Bharath · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are many new things we are learning which contradict past beliefs about health and medicine. This is an excellent book – while cholesterol is the central subject, it has a lot of vital information on diet & medicine.

In risk assessment for heart disease, cholesterol has been regarded as the major contributor since decades. Any out-of-range reading would lead to (still does) almost immediate recommendations of statin drugs. Many body functions depend on cholesterol, and the assumption that it is bad is simplistic and wrong. In fact, low cholesterol is very risky. Fats were regarded as the main culprit shooting blood cholesterol upwards. As it turns out, we have been wrong on a lot of this. Processed sugar (which is everywhere, and we are addicted to it) has been the devil – hiding in plain sight, and the industry had cleverly shifted the blame to fat. While trans-fat is certainly bad, saturated fat – not so much, at least nowhere near as harmful as processed sugar. The Lipid hypothesis has been around for decades, and the authors point out - was never proven. Even the simplistic reading of HDL cholesterol being good and LDL cholesterol being bad is apparently inaccurate. The triglyceride to HDL ratio is a far better predictor of heart disease than cholesterol ever was. There are 13 subtypes of cholesterol, and we now know that inflammation and oxidation make arteries vulnerable to plaque. A high sugar, low fat, high carb diet over the last few decades has wreaked havoc with substantial part of the population now pre-diabetic or diabetic. Insulin resistance leading to Diabetes is a major risk factor leading to heart disease. The authors take the view that statins have some benefits in reducing inflammation & improving blood flow but lowering cholesterol with statins provides no health benefits. Statins have side effects of muscle pain, weakness, memory & cognition problems. Many people who are popping statins the authors opine do not need it.

The later sections have a lot of good information on foods to eat & those to avoid, supplements and tests you should do. I found the views to refreshing and the reasoning feels correct (I am not a medical professional after all, but the authors are very convincing). Based on the other books I have read I would suggest more caution in avoiding inflammatory foods than the authors do though (‘How Not to Diet’ and ‘Brain Food’ are excellent books for diet advice).

I recommend this book as essential reading for everyone.

My rating: 4.5 / 5.

[Lou · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book... Everyone who has heart disease in their family should read this. Basically the biggest thing I got out of the book was the 4 heart disease killers 1. Oxidation, 2 Inflammation, 3. Sugar, 4. Stress. Big-Pharma is pushing their statin drugs to lower your Cholesterol, but that isn't the problem.. Its the high-carbs and lifestyles that we live, and eating Fatty foods is fine.

[Carmel Hanes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting information about how cholesterol works in the body and what things influence it, and how our more traditional understanding of what is "good" and "bad" cholesterol can be somewhat limiting or even inaccurate when it comes to predicting heart attacks, heart disease and deaths. Bowden goes into great detail about cholesterol, inflammation, and sugar/carb insulin reactions that may be of even greater concern but receive far less attention. Although the information got pretty technical at times, it was mostly very understandable.

I take most information along these lines with a large grain of salt, because I've watched the "experts" over my lifetime change and waffle on a pretty regular basis. But, I do believe that all health begins with what we put into our bodies, so the information presented gives a good account of some of those factors and how they might influence overall health. Good food for thought (pun intended).

[Linden · Rating 4 out of 5]

The authors have updated their 2012 book of the same title, continuing to emphasize why they believe that the extreme focus on lowering cholesterol is misguided. They see cholesterol-lowering drugs like statins as mainly helpful for middle aged males with other underlying conditions, viewing the current blood test for cholesterol as inadequate, and suggesting that a better predictor of heart disease is the triglyceride number divided by the HDL. The authors showcase studies indicating that high fat foods are not the villain that they have been made out to be; rather, they see sugar as the enemy, contributing to insulin resistance as a primary cause of heart disease. Thanks to the publisher and to Netgalley for this ARC.

[8stitches 9lives · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you have been prescribed statins of are about to be, this is an essential and eye-opening read from experts in the field of diet and cholesterol. It's fascinating and extensively researched as well as being accessible and eminently readable. Like all drugs statins have side effects which can be difficult to manage, but this book provides so much advice on how to lower your cholesterol without the need for statins. The Great Cholesterol Myth Now Includes 100 Recipes for Preventing and Reversing Heart Disease, nutrition and health experts lay out detailed plans and recipes to help you prevent and reverse heart disease. Having tried some of these recipes I can attest that the ones I made were very tasty and easy to create. A must-read for those with high cholesterol looking for a way to keep it under control without medication. Many thanks to Fair Winds Press for an ARC.

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Great Cholesterol Myth, by Jonny Bowden and Stephen Sinatra , exposes the great lie that cholesterol is bad. Before reading this book, I did not know much about cholesterol, other than the fact that it was supposedly harmful, and that you had to go on a specific diet to keep your cholesterol levels low. No more eggs, beef, or saturated fats such as butter and coconut oil. Being a HUGE advocate of consuming high amounts of eggs and saturated fat, and knowing how they are greatly beneficial health-wise, I did not have to study much about cholesterol to know that their hypothesis was very much fallacious. But when talking to friends who were on the cholesterol diet, I did not have a convincing enough argument. I realized that I needed to study up on it so that I can better help others.
Cholesterol is a very important molecule that each and every cell in our bodies makes. Without cholesterol, we would die. Our brain has high levels of cholesterol and is needed in order to retain our memory. Cholesterol is also needed in order for our bodies to make vitamin D, sex hormones, and the acids needed for proper digestion. Low levels of cholesterol are highly linked to depression, suicide, cancer, erectile dysfunction, memory loss, accidents, inflammation, infections, etc.. The idea that cholesterol is the cause of heart disease, also known as the lipid hypothesis, is just that even today: a hypothesis. Scientists still have yet to prove that cholesterol is dangerous and leads to heart disease. Even more interesting, studies have shown that half of people who have been hospitalized because of a heart attack have normal levels of cholesterol, while half of those with high levels have very healthy hearts.
Dr. Jonny Bowden, before becoming a nutritionist, began to change his stance regarding cholesterol when he was a personal trainer. He noticed that his clients who followed the low-fat diet were not losing much weight or getting any healthier. When some of his clients started following the high- fat and low-carb diet, the results were remarkable. Those clients had lost a lot of weight and were overall healthier than when they had begun. This experience gave him a desire to study this subject more in-depth. Dr. Bowden, along with co-author and cardiologist Stephen Sinatra, came to several conclusions based on their findings and proven research. Among those conclusions are the following:
1)Heart Disease is not caused by saturated fat. On the contrary, saturated fats coming from meat, coconut oil, eggs, and butter are all fats that help protect the heart! Trans-fats are really the culprits.
2)The Cholesterol Diet increases the risk of heart disease. As mentioned above, saturated fats protect the heart. When we do not consume these foods, are bodies are at greater risk for heart disease as well as other severe health conditions.
3)Lowering cholesterol does not lower the risk of heart disease. According to the authors, “cholesterol is a relatively minor player in heart disease and a poor predictor of heart attacks” (pg. 31). They also mention that over 50% of people in the hospital who have had heart attacks have standard cholesterol levels.
4)Sugar Causes Heart Disease. Various studies in various countries show that sugar was the main culprit in heart disease. Where sugar was not consumed in high amounts, heart disease was not prevalent. Countries where their inhabitants consumed sugar in higher amounts had much more cases of heart disease. Sugar lowers the body’s immunity and therefore the body cannot fight inflammation, which leads to heart disease and other harmful conditions.
5)Statins are more harmful than helpful. Cholesterol is not bad for you; therefore, we do not need statins to lower cholesterol. Statins also include many severe side effects such as memory loss, movement impairment, liver and skeletal muscle damage, sexual dysfunction, muscle pain, weakened immunity, and fatigue. The body suffers from all these conditions just to supposedly prevent something that could possibly happen to the heart. What’s more interesting; statin drugs deplete the body of CoQ10, a nutrient that is necessary for proper heart function!
6) Stress causes heart disease. A little stress is good for the body; too much can be deadly. Stress, when in conjunction with other risks to health such as pesticides or drugs can be fatal. It can also slow down the recover process from illnesses or even inhibit recovery, putting extra strain on the heart and thus increasing the risk of heart attack, stroke, etc.
So why would so many people lie about cholesterol? The answer is pure greed. Various pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, and food conglomerates make money selling statins and other drugs and low-fat and low-cholesterol foods. The statins in and of itself rack in over $30 billion yearly. Imagine what would happen to those pharmaceutical corporations if the FDA announced that cholesterol is not so bad after all.
Not only do the authors expose the great lie about lowering cholesterol, they also have a section in the book on how to protect heart health naturally. I found The Great Cholesterol Myth to be very informing, in-depth, and written in a way that is easy to understand. I am now able to supply proper evidence to my friends and family in exposing this harmful lie. I am thankful for the opportunity I had to read this book and I hope that my knowledge of this subject will help others to become healthy and strong.

This review, along with many other health book reviews, can also be found on www.differentkindofliving.wordpress.com.

[Jeri · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was recently told by my doctor that I have high cholesterol and she wanted to put me on a statin. I have since experienced severe shoulder pain while taking it and that sent me to the internet to do research. I was thrilled to see this book up for review on NetGalley and even more pleased to be approved to read it. I will definitely be buying a copy for my shelf so I can refer back to it as my leisure.

This book explains why having a simple blood test and being told you have high cholesterol isn't as simple or easy as it seems. There is more than just the numbers you are told and more than one way to control it. It was like a lightbulb went off in my head about the sugar and insulin resistance. This made everything fall into place for me. I have always been "healthy" by not eating all the "bad" fats but I love me some sugar now!! Never could pass up a piece of cake, bowl of ice cream or a brownie. With my husband and oldest daughter being diagnosed as pre-diabetic I know we need to change our diets and that is what we have started doing. This reinforces the need to cut sugar out of diet completely.

I also found the chapters on foods to eat or avoid and the supplements to take very helpful. I am already taking a few and have added some of the foods to our diets and will now add even more. I highly suggest this book to everyone that is concerned about their health whether they have been diagnosed with heart disease or not.

I was given an eARC by the publisher through NetGalley.

[Albert · Rating 3 out of 5]

At a high level this book addressed the topic of heart disease and cholesterol well. It explained the various causes of heart disease and how cholesterol fit into or did not fit into that explanation. The book was easy to read, chatty in style, but as a result only went lightly into the science. The book did address many studies that supposedly support the authors’ conclusion as well as some that contradict that conclusion. This book did a decent job of not only arguing for its conclusion, but then also laying out a roadmap for the reader to follow. Included were what to eat and not eat, what supplements to take and how to manage stress.

Of course, as with almost every book written about nutrition and certainly one with this title, it set out with a conclusion it intended to support. It seems that there are various nutrition factions battling one another, leaving the layman and even someone seriously interested in personal nutrition to find their own way through the morass. I have learned in reading books like this you need not only to assess the book’s content but also to investigate the authors’ backgrounds in order to determine what level of bias, professional expertise and experience and motivations they bring to the writing of the book. That seems like an obvious statement, but one of which I need to keep reminding myself.

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is in part a debunking of the saturated fat misinformation as covered in other books. This book adds more specific info on various cholesterol tests and then makes a whole bunch of claims about various nutritional supplements. These claims seem a little fishy to me.

Some better books covering most of the same ground:

[Desiree Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

A perfectly great reference tool I needed to determine heart health and what tests are helpful. Can’t wait to go back and read the whole thing!

[Gary Patton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm looking forward to discussing the overwhelming negative research about cholesterol lowering drugs in this book with the referral Physician, not my own, whom rushed to prescribe a Statin drug for me notwithstanding my referral to him for an ear problem.

For about the last 5 years, I've been warning my Friends with elevated cholesterol to avoid Statins like the plague based on articles by healthcare professionals that I researched and discovered when I picked up on the horribly dangerous effects, not side-effects, but regular effects of Statins.

The research has been in for years. The ignorance of GPs and the unwisdom of cardiologists who continue to buy into Big Pharma's "con job" about the wonders of Statins in preventing cardiac disease is almost unbelievable ..if it were not horribly real.

Their denial of facts, or their lack of time to read them, nonetheless, is condemning thousands of trusting people to death in North America alone.

You can read the short statements about why you might be wise to get the information this book will give you in a short article: "Cardiologists Ignore Facts" at http://goo.gl/jgVJ5 . It's by a Toronto-based physician, Gifford-Jones M.D. His inexpensive, easy-to-use alternative available at your local health food store is explained in: "FAQ re Medi-C Plus" at http://goo.gl/4IIvt .

Enjoy learning the truth and be well...

GaryFPatton
(2013-07-13 gfp '42© )

[Angie Carter · Rating 1 out of 5]

UGH! Hate, hate, hate this book. Such bad medical advice. Books like this should have big red letters saying "read with caution & skepticism". How does this stuff get published? Alot on why not to take a statin drug to lower your cholesterol, yet a couple of chapters later a list of supplements to take and a few are very questionable and have side effects! Just skims over the importance of diet & exercise. This may be the 1st book I ever wanted to burn, because I don't want anyone else to read it, unless they do so with a critical eye to the "bad science".

[Dinah Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was recommended to me by my friend, an aspiring Nurse Practitioner. I feel that the information given is worth paying attention too. I know that we’ve been told certain things about health habits in the past and then the information changes which creates skepticism. So we decide for ourselves what is best hopefully after some research. For me this book has motivated me to reduce my sugar intake and look at alternatives to medicines that the Money Makers push.

[Debra Daniels-Zeller · Rating 3 out of 5]

This books sets out a compelling idea--that high cholesterol is neither an indicator of heart disease, nor is it necessarily bad for you. Backed by studies, the authors present lots of evidence that sugar not fat is the bd guy when it comes to heart disease. Though they aren't the first to point fingers at sugar and how horrible it is, when all the studies are laid out, They could be right. I learned more about the role of cholesterol in the body, why it's important, and how it got vilanized, and even now, doctors don't want to let go of outdated notions. Way too many people are on statin drugs to lower cholesterol, yet the same numbers of people still die of heart disease. The downside of this book was the conversational tone with the reader, phrases such as "Let me repeat that:" and "Are your eyes glazed over yet?" made me feel like the authors had their ideal reader figured out and it wasn't me. Also, the dietary recommendations seemed expensive and somewhat unreasonable. How does one eat cherries two times a week when they're only in season a few months during the summer, and was that sour or sweet cherries? But Omega 3 oils are high on the list of good foods, and poegranate juice and dark chocolate. And any book that promotes good dark chocolate is okay in my book.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eye-opening/Important Info

Turns out big pharma lied to us about statins. I know…what a shock. Statins are really only effective for white middle-aged men who have already experienced a cardiac event. For everyone else, statins are NOT the thing. That is the main claim of this book and it made sense to me after reading the data presented. Total cholesterol is meaningless in predicting heart disease. This book spells out the blood tests you should be having and the numbers that actually are important. The old refrain of fat and cholesterol being the culprits is outdated. Sugar is the real bad guy! First, you get diabetes then heart disease. Cut out sugar whenever possible.

[Brad · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are a lot of books out at the moment that talk about cholesterol and how it is not the best indicator of heart disease. This is a particularly easy read compared to some of the others. Well worth having a breezy read through it!

I am quite healthy, fit, BMI normal, rarely eat Fast Food (ie once a year and then I regret it for the next year), yet my cholesterol is borderline high. My previous doctor suggested I exercise more and eat less fatty food. (Which is what I was already doing) He then suggested I should start on some cholesterol lowering drugs.

Instead I changed doctors, gave up sugar, lost 4kg without any extra exercise, and read this book.
My total cholesterol figure is still high (5.5 mmol/L) but this book suggests a much more accurate test is the Triglyceride/HDL ratio. If this ratio is around 2 you are okay. If it around 5 you are in trouble. My ratio is about 1.

No I am not some alternate medicate anti vaxxer loony, but I think we would all be wise to check multiple sources when it comes to our health. Especially when the evidence for using such a powerful drug is not so compelling.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone, especially women who have been told to take statins, should read this book. I'm not saying you shouldn't go on statins, that is a personal choice between each person and their doctor, but do some research and make sure it is the right course of action for yourself.

[Sheryl Valentine · Rating 4 out of 5]

With so many people on statin drugs in the United States, this book is a must read! The public has been duped!

[Barb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Authors explain how they believe inflammation from too much sugar is the bigger factor in heart disease than high cholesterol levels. Well written and makes sense.

[Elizabeta · Rating 5 out of 5]

[Kerstin Bruxvoort · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative and easy for a non-scientist to read.

[Mary Kolk · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book in December of 2012 on my Kindle. This was a must read book for everyone especially those people who are on a statin drug! Jonny Bowden, Ph.D and Dr. Sinatra spell it out for us as to why it is not safe to be on statins. I know this from my own experience - my husband was on statins for as long as we can remember. His doctor changed him to a new statin in the Fall of 2011. My husband is a diabetic. His blood sugars began to rise and we couldn't figure out what was going on. Then I read something about how if you don't have diabetes statin drugs can cause type 2 diabetes and if you already have diabetes, you have a greater chance of your blood sugars rising.
My husband cut his Crestor statin drug in half and we saw dramatic changes in his blood sugars. They came down to a more acceptable level of 90 mg/dl. fasting blood.
In the Spring of 2012, we went to the doctor and after the doctor looked at his blood results and told him that things were looking fine, then we told him what happened and how we cut the statins in half etc. The doctor was amazed. He told us that the effects of the lower dose would take like 2 weeks to kick in so it wouldn't have showed up on this blood test. Then we told him the real surprise was that we changed the medication nearly 5 months before this appointment! I do not recommend ANYONE changing their medications. That is not what this post is about. Do not change medications without consulting your doctor first.
In the summer of 2012, my husband's doctor changed him to a more generic form of statin drug because of costs. Within 6 weeks he could hardly move. because his muscle hurt him so much. This is when he first told me what he was feeling. I was very concerned that he may be in a condition called Rhabdomyolysis - a serious condition in which when the muscle fibers break down a protein called myoglobin is released and enters the blood stream. This protein can not be filtered out by the kidneys - as a matter of course it basically clogs the kidneys See http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhea...
We went for the blood test to be sure that this was not the case - fortunately it was not and he did not have rhabdomyolysis. What HE DID have was extremely sore muscles. His doctor took him off all statins immediately. The sore muscles lasted 5 months! He could not walk easily nor could he bend. It was a very bad time.
Dr. Bowden and Dr. Sinatra are trying to open the eyes of the public to show them basically what that they are being taken when they are put on statin drugs. Not only that but they also point out how very, very bad these drugs are for 98% of people. The only people who should be on a statin, are those people with high coronary calcium scores and/or people who have had one heart attack already.
We teach classes in How We Beat Diabetes and the one thing we tell our classes over and over again is: Question Everything!!! Don't just walk out of the doctor's office without finding out why, how and when /if you can come off the medication you have just been put on.
Thank you Dr. Bowden and Dr. Sinatra! This book is a treasure for health.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hmm, this is a troublesome book for me. I agree wholeheartedly (is that a pun?) with the message, but I had some issues with the format. First, I'll say that the book uses a very casual, chatty tone--the same one I adopt in my reviews, and I actually enjoyed that. Unfortunately, it seems that that casual tone comes with some rather lackluster editing. I noticed things like typos and sentences missing their periods. Additionally, there's a long section on Dr. Yudkin (pg. 66) that apparently references Gary Taubes with "Taubes wrote" even though Taubes hasn't been mentioned in pages and pages, and there's no footnote. Speaking of Gary Taubes, if you've read Good Calories Bad Calories or Why We Get Fat then much of the first part of the book is a retread, and I found that somewhat boring.

Last, any book of this sort should be read with a critical eye, but I find it hard to believe that a book that has been written primarily about the dangers of too much sugar, touts the recommendation of "Put pomegranate juice in 'heavy rotation' on your menu: 4 to 8 ounces a day, or as often as you like." WTF, book? That's 31-36g of sugar PER SERVING (8 oz). As I've shared before, my goal for total sugar daily is 30g with <5g added sugar, which is about 3 servings of fruit (you know, whole foods, not juice) and one piece of 72% cacao chocolate. Thanks for finding your readers a "healthy" replacement for their soda addiction. Additionally, the book trashes processed meats, but fails to mention that you can find unprocessed versions. My local supermarket, i.e. not a specialty meats or wholefood store, sells uncured bacon, and the speciality stores sell uncured versions of lunch meat and breakfast sausage. These are foods that are pretty limited in my diet anyway, but just in case there was someone out there crying over their bacon.

I did find some information I plan to put into use. I copied out the boxed information on pg. 68 to tape to my bathroom mirror. Given my love of cupcakes, I need a constant reminder of why nomming them destroys my health (by the way, I halved my triglycerides number by going low carb, so yeah, my ratio of triglycerides to HDL to is 1.5. BA, right?) I bookmarked p. 176, which is the mega-quick breakdown of all the book's information, and I highlighted that processed carbs no-no list on p. 179-180, so I can reference it every time I'm tempted to buy a box of crackers. I also really appreciated the injunction against vegetable oils. Yes, I know they're bad, but I don't think I previously made the connection that restaurant fried food, i.e. food cooked in oil that has been reused dozens of times and therefore is likely unstable, is pretty much the poster child for poor heart health. Finally a push for me to stop cheating with tortilla chips and curly fries. I'll miss y'all. ;)

Overall, this was an excellent book, but there are a few issues that I hope will be addressed in future editions.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

"High cholesterol and saturated fat are the major causes of heart disease." That statement has been a medical article of faith for many years. According to the authors of this book, it is also very wrong.

There are several different types of "good" and "bad" cholesterol (some "good" cholesterol is bad for the body, and some "bad" cholesterol is good for the body), so a single number for good and bad cholesterol each is rather worthless. People with really low cholesterol numbers can easily get heart disease, and those with really high cholesterol numbers can live their entire lives without one bit of heart disease. Why do some native cultures, who practically live on saturated fat, have little or no heart disease?

The real cause of heart disease is chronic inflammation, which comes from damage caused by free radicals (the book explains everything). Sugar is much more harmful to your heart than fat. It contributes to inflammation in the walls of your arteries. It increases the amount of insulin in your blood, which increases cholesterol and raises your blood pressure. It also raises your level of triglycerides, which is a much better indicator of heart disease than cholesterol.

What is the problem with statin drugs, the usual treatment for heart disease? Their benefits have been extremely exaggerated. The brain depends on cholesterol to function normally. A common (but under-reported) side effect of statin drugs is sexual dysfunction. Most doctors dismiss complaints of side effects from statin drugs, and don't report them to the FDA. The only people who should take statin drugs are middle-age men with documented coronary artery disease.

The book mentions tests that are much better indicators than cholesterol of heart problems. Ask your doctor to order them. Get rid of sugar, soda, processed carbohydrates and trans fats from your diet. Eat more vegetables, berries, nuts, beans and dark chocolate. If you can add only one supplement to your diet, make it Coenzyme Q10.

This book easily reaches the level of Must read, especially for anyone on a statin drug. It is an eye-opener that will give the reader plenty to discuss with their doctor at their next appointment.

[Lydia Ojuka · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. I bought it because Im a Gary Taubes fan, I read both his best sellers "good calories, bad calories" and "why we get fat" after reading his NYT article "what if its all been a big fat lie"
BUT...I keep running into people who still blame dietary (mostly saturdated) fat and cholesterol as the bad guys. (so frustrating)

Would you believe that all of the following statements are ALL myths?

High cholesterol is the cause of heart disease (its not)
High cholesterol is a predictor of heart attack (it isnt)
Statin drugs are safe (far from)
Saturated fat is dangerous (it isnt)
The higher the cholesterol, the shorter the lifespan ( opposite)
A high carbohydrate diet protects you from heart disease. (nope)

You will be hard pressed to find a person who believes any of those statements are false but The Doctors do an excellent job of making medical literature, nutritional history and science mumbo jumbo really accessible and thoroughly dispelling all of those statements and more.

I especially loved learning all the awesome things cholesterol does and the dangers of stopping cholesterol production.

Anyone who has weight management issues, has ever been concerned about cholesterol numbers or heart disease and especially anyone who has ever been recommended by a practitioner to be on a statin drug MUST READ THIS BOOK!

spoiler alert... Sugar, Oxidation, Glycation and Stress and NOT CHOLESTEROL are the real causes of the #1 killer of americans, heart disease.

[Stella Fouts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Those of you who are taking statins to reduce/maintain your cholesterol levels owe it to yourselves to read this book AND do your own research on statins. It seems we've been led to the pharmaceutical alter by false promises. After years of statins being subscribed to millions of people whose cholesterol numbers are what the drug companies (and the doctors they've influenced) say will cause them to have a heart attack or a stroke, the numbers are finally in. Manipulating cholesterol numbers with the use of statins has NOT reduced heart attacks or strokes in the population.

If it were just a matter of the public paying money for a placebo, fine. There's a fool born every minute. But it's worse than that. Heart disease is not going away AND statin users are setting themselves up for some other, just-as-deadly health consequences by taking these drugs. Now the public is being told that we should consider putting our children on statins.

When will this end? When will we realize that there's no magic pill to cure our ills? Read this book by Drs. Jonny Bowden and Stephen Sinatra if you want to know WHY lowering your cholesterol won't prevent heart disease. You'll also learn that it's possible to prevent heart disease WITHOUT using statins.

But if you're not ready to know that the very thing you've been putting in your mouth for years is doing you more harm than good, don't read The Great Cholesterol Myth. 'Cause you'll probably not sleep well tonight.