I have to admit I’ve always has a taste for opinions which go against conventional wisdom. So I was
Beating high cholesterol
delighted many years ago when I read about Dr. Malcolm Kendrik’s book entitled “The Great Cholesterol Con”. For an outline of the book’s argument you can read a great review of it here (http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/?p=646) written by a physician called Dr. Michael Eades.
The book is skeptical about “ the idea that fat in general and saturated fat in particular have anything to do with heart disease” as the review puts it.
Thirty years ago worrying about cholesterol was virtually unknown. Since then it has become a major health issue. But how important is it?
From my own family’s experience information does seem to be quite contradictory. My father, who has suffered from heart disease, was recently told that he could each as much cholesterol as he liked as he was once of those people whose heart condition is not directly impacted by his cholesterol consumption. My father-in-law on the other hand is strictly forbidden high cholesterol foods because the risks of a heart attack.
It is worth mentioning they live in two different countries which may explain the different advice given. On the other hand they have very different metabolisms.
So we are trying to find out what you, our readers, think about cholesterol and any treatments for high cholesterol you may have had.
We would like you to think about the following questions to help frame the conversation:-
- Do you have high cholesterol? When were you diagnosed and what were your initial symptoms?
- What treatments have you used? How effective have they been?
- Have you ever taken a statin for cholesterol?
- Have your tried diets or alternative treatments?
- Do you feel this may have helped prevent heart disease?
- · What do you think of the ideas put forward in “The Great Cholesterol Con”? Does this conform to your experience of high cholesterol?
Please feel free to add your thoughts to the discussion by using the comments box below.
Thanks very much in advance!
You can check out a previous blog on the subject we ran here https://patienttalk.org/?p=518