Tangled Web UK Review August 2008
The Great Cholesterol Con by
Malcolm Kendrick
pbk out September 08
(Blake Pub)
at £9.99
Many years ago I knew an athletic fifty-something woman who was given a cholesterol test by her doctor. Her levels were determined to be too high and she was told to lose weight. She did, and returned for further checkups, only to be informed that these were still elevated and that she’d have to continue the diet. Eventually she reached six-and-a-half stone and had the energy of a sloth but her cholesterol remained high.
I’ve been suspicious of cholesterol testing ever since - and now a doctor has demonstrated that high cholesterol doesn’t cause heart disease. In fact, it can be positively good for you.
Ironically, the NHS is currently spending billions of pounds on drugs - statins - which lower cholesterol and whose side effects include walking difficulties, confusion and memory loss.
So what is the best way to fend off heart disease? A diet high in fruit and vegetables with a moderate alcohol intake and no cigarettes or cocaine, enjoyable but not extreme exercise (avoid snow-shovelling and squash), social support and keeping your stress levels down are apparently the key.
This is an intelligent - and occasionally humorous - book which challenges the powerful pharmaceutical industry and the medics who fail to question its financially-motivated claims.
(
Carol Anne Davis
Author of Children Who Kill)
Thousands of New and used Books at your Fingertips...
Support Tangled Web - Buy Your Books Online
