Sunday, 16 June 2013  Book review: The Great Cholesterol Myth
Title: The Great Cholesterol Myth (2012) Authors: Jonny Bowden
and Stephen Sinatra Publisher: Fair Winds Press  There is
nothing I like more than finding out that something that has
been widely believed for decades is wrong. The cholesterol myth
fits the pattern of so many items in my blog: it sounds good, it
superficially makes sense, and there is a biologically plausible
explanation, but when put to the (scientific) test, it fails.
This book covers blood levels of cholesterol, cholesterol in the
diet, and drugs to lower cholesterol, and while not everything
we hear is a myth, most of it is. The authors make the following
claims, and support them with good references to key articles.
Firstly, the relationship between blood cholesterol levels and
heart disease is, at best, weak and certainly more complicated
than often portrayed. Half of patients with heart attacks have
normal cholesterol levels, and half of those with high
cholesterol have hear