Everything we thought we knew about cholesterol is wrong…according to Dr. Stephen Sinatra & Dr. Jonny Bowden. In their shocking new book, they call the current view of cholesterol a “scam” & a “myth” and site the longest-running and perhaps most significant study on heart disease done to date (Framingham Heart Study) to back it up.
Here are a few key points that summarize their belief:
- The hypothetical link between high levels of total cholesterol and heart disease has never been proven. It’s a diagnosis conjured up to serve drug companies who want to sell cholesterol-lowering (serious side-effect-causing) statin drugs.
- Cholesterol levels are a poor predictor of heart attacks. Only about 50% of heart attack victims have high cholesterol levels, and 50% of people who have high cholesterol do not have heart disease.
- Recent studies suggest statin drugs are associated with a higher risk of diabetes, which is a major risk factor for heart disease.
- The theory that fat and cholesterol cause heart disease became widely accepted despite much evidence to the contrary.
- Today’s widely held belief that the best diet for preventing heart disease is low in saturated fat and cholesterol is not supported by available evidence from clinical trials.
Dr. Bowden and Dr. Sinatra agree that while Big Pharma is busy raking in over $31 billion annually by selling high-cholesterol drugs with lousy side effects to unknowing victims, their success is putting the American public’s health at risk.
Plus, all of this erroneous focus on high cholesterol is diverting research dollars away from the real cause of heart disease—inflammation & Sugar.
Chronic inflammation is a major predictor of coronary artery disease. Studies show elevated levels of CRP (inflammation) puts you at twice the risk of dying from cardiovascular-related problems as those with high cholesterol.
The two of them wrote this book because they believe strongly that the public has been misinformed and in some cases directly lied to about cholesterol. They believe that a combination of faulty information, scientifically questionable studies, corporate greed, and deceptive marketing has created one of the most enduring and damaging myths in medical history: that cholesterol causes heart disease.
They say many millions of marketing dollars have perpetuated this myth and kept the public narrowly focused on a relatively minor participant in the development of heart disease, and, in the process, generated nearly $30 billion per year in sales of cholesterol-lowering drugs. The real tragedy is that by putting so much emphasis on the dangers of cholesterol, the actual causes of heart disease—inflammation, oxidation, sugar, and stress—have been largely ignored.
This is definitely groundbreaking information that will surely be discussed in much more depth but the scientific research supporting the viewpoint of Dr. Sinatra & Bowden is awfully strong. Stay tuned for more on this topic.
In the meantime, here are 2 links that provide more informatinon, as well as advice for those currently taking cholesterol medications:
http://jonnybowdenblog.com/cholesterol-myths
http://www.drsinatra.com/cholesterol-education
*BioHealthScience.org has no affiliation with Dr. Sinatra, Dr. Bowden, or the selling of their book. This article was purely for informational purposes, not commercial.
Article by Adam Camara
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