GREAT CHOLESTEROL CON

'This book confirms a nagging fear that the current cholesterol obsession may be utterly misguided'. Statins are the so-called wonder drugs widely prescribed to lower blood cholesterol levels. They also claim to offer unparalleled protection against heart disease. Believed to be completely safe and capable of preventing a whole series of other conditions, Statins are the most profitable drug in the history of medicine. In this groundbreaking book, GP Malcolm Kendrick exposes the truth behind the hype. He reveals that high cholesterol levels don't cause heart disease, a high fat diet, saturated or otherwise, does not affect blood cholesterol levels and that protection provided by statins is so small as to be not worth bothering about for most men and all women. He claims that statins have many more side effects than have been admitted to and he lambastes a powerful pharmaceutical industry and an unquestioning medical profession who create an atmosphere of stress and anxiety with the madcap concept of 'good' and 'bad' cholesterol when it is stress and anxiety that is the real cause of fatal heart disease. With clarity and wit, the book debunks assumptions on what constitutes a healthy lifestyle and diet and is an appeal to common sense. Controversial, fascinating, highly entertaining. 270pp, paperback with charts and diagrams.