Book Report by Liz Pavek
on
"The Cholesterol Myths:
Exposing The Fallacy That Saturated Fat
and
Cholesterol Cause Heart Disease"
by Uffe Ravnskov, MD, Ph. D.
First, a quote from the introduction:
"Did you know...
...that cholesterol is not a deadly poison but a substance vital to the cells of all mammals?
...that your body produces three to four times more cholesterol than you eat?
...that this production increases when you eat only small amounts of cholesterol and decreases when you eat large amounts?
...that the "prudent" diet, low in saturated fat and cholesterol, cannot lower your cholesterol more than a small percentage?
...that the only effective way to lower cholesterol is with drugs?
...that many of the cholesterol-lowering drugs are dangerous to your health and may shorten your life?
...that the new cholesterol-lowering drugs, called statins, do lower heart-disease mortality, but this is because of effects other than cholesterol-lowering? Unfortunately, they also stimulate cancer, at least in rodents.
...that you may become aggressive or suicidal if you lower your cholesterol too much?
...that polyunsaturated fatty acids, those which are claimed to prevent heart attacks, stimulate infections and cancer in rats?
...that if you eat too much polyunsaturated oil you will age faster than normal? You will see this on the outside as wrinkled skin. You can't see the effects of premature aging on the inside of your body, but you will certainly feel them.
...that too much polyunsaturated oil may provoke atherosclerosis?
...that people whose blood cholesterol is low develop just as many plaques in their blood vessels as people whose cholesterol is high?
...that more than thirty studies of more than 150,000 individuals have shown that people who have had a heart attack haven't eaten more saturated fat or less polyunsaturated fat than other people?
...that old women with high cholesterol live longer than old women with low cholesterol?
...that many of these facts have been presented in scientific journals and books for decades but proponents of the diet-heart hypothesis never tell them to the public?
...that the diet-heart idea and the cholesterol campaign create immense prosperity for researchers, doctors, drug producers, and the food industry?"
-- Uffe Ravnskov, M.D., Ph. D. in the introduction to "The Cholesterol Myths"
This book tells the truth about how the "diet-heart" people (as Ravnskov calls them) manipulated not only the results of their tests and studies, but the tests themselves. The only reason I can think of for this kind of manipulation of data is because they know they are adrift on a leaky raft without an oar, and have to adjust and tweak everything that can be adjusted just to keep afloat. Loosely translated, that means that they discovered in their research that their premise (cholesterol and saturated fats lead to obesity and heart/artery disease) was bad science, and the results showed the exact opposite of what they had been preaching so loudly for years. If the research results were made public knowledge, they would be embarrassed before the world.
Not only is the premise of the diet-heart theory flawed, the "research" is flat-out fraudulent. The hand-in-hand groups use each other's phony data, report citing each other's manipulated results as references, choose their test subjects from among high-risk populations, add other stipulations and modifications to the tests that aren't mentioned in the reports, and the list goes on.
Dr. Ravnskov's research is upon the test reports themselves. He has meticulously studied each study. He runs the numbers, checks the references, and studies the statistics. The book is full of charts, as well as witty cartoons, and Ravnskov manages to take a dry study of studies and make it into a readable report.
He finds so many holes in the diet-heart theory that it looks like these guys are adrift on a raft, all right: a raft made of Swiss cheese with cheesecloth for a sail. The diet-heart theory is like a bad experiment in a high-school chemistry class.
As I have asked elsewhere, "How come, if cholesterol is so bad for humans, it's the very source of growth and development of the entire body and nervous system as the embryo grows to maturity? How come, if saturated fats are so evil, that most primitive cultures have eaten diets rich in these fats for thousands of years and managed to stay virtually disease-free? So, my main question is this (and why didn't one single "doctor" or "scientist" in this bunch ever think of this question): How has humanity survived for many thousands of years on diets that featured meats, fats, milk and cheese, glands, and eggs?
How come, all of a sudden, these traditional foods have become toxic? And how come heart disease and high blood pressure have only just started making a serious appearance on the scene in the last 30 years or so?? The same 30 years or so, I might add, that includes the appearance of unsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, high-sugar foods, refined and chemically enhanced pseudo-foods, and all manner of dietary demons?
Ravnskov comes to the same conclusion that I have--that the pot of gold at the end of this rainbow for these guys really is gold. Filthy lucre. Moola. Dough. Legal tender. sawbucks. C-notes. As in "profit." Or, "research grant$" and "medical $chool endowment$."
Another thing we agree on is who's behind it. The hands-down winners in this race are the food and pharmaceutical manufacturers. They have the most to lose if the world finds out the truth and wakes up. They are making (in the immortal words of Carl Sagan) BILLIONS upon BILLIONS of dollars selling the anti-cholesterol drugs to people who don't need them. The food giants are making a killing ('scuse the pun) by producing foods that stimulate the overproduction of cholesterol in the human system. What could be handier: "I'll make the poison, and you make the antidote! We'll clean up!" The medical industry is recruited to be the vector of this new disease, blackmailed into obedience by threats of the witholding of re$earch money and medical $chool grant$.
Did somebody mention the real, human people who will be at risk of their health from this profitable little alliance? It's obvious who the victims are when one looks at the plethora of new drugs on the market to treat everything the "Frankenfoods" cause in the human population. Who are the most frequent users of these chemical wonders? The people who eat the most of the ersatz "foods;" The poor souls who believe that this dreck is actually nutritious, or low-fat, or prevents coronaries, etc. And this includes lots and lots of people who are on medicaid and medicare, of course. Why is that? Because Uncle $am pays off like a $LOT MACHINE. Why not market these poisons to people who are "sure pay?" And, who cares, if, in the process of this "treatment," the vict--er, patients, die from the medications/ tests/surgeries?
When the people become victims of the medical system as a result of this noxious diet, then are placed on medications for these diet-induced diseases which are manufactured by the very multinational corporation that markets the spurious diet, the fix is in.
If the vict--er, patients can't afford to buy the drugs, the government steps in to purchase them with YOUR money--and mine. All of this moola, lucre, and gelt is flowing into the pockets of two or three multinational cartels--the pharmaceutical giants and the food giants. Isn't your blood starting to simmer yet?
Ravnskov didn't mention the place of sugars and insulin in the production of high blood cholesterol, but I presume that by this time, he has discovered the link. At any rate, his wonderful book does more than expose the lie, it causes real thought. Enjoy.
Dr. Ravnskov's website is at http://www.ravnskov.nu/ncep_guidelines.htm
Find this book on http://amazon.com
