I read Dr. Malcolm Kendrik’s book The Great Cholesterol Con in the UK-published edition several months ago, but have waited until now to review it because I was waiting to get cholesterol-con.jpgthe copy I had ordered from Amazon.com in the US to compare. Unfortunately, the version that Amazon.com sent me after three months of waiting was the same UK edition that I already had. Apparently the book hasn’t been picked up and published by a US publisher. More is the pity because the UK publisher did a sorry job on what is a truly wonderful book.
Dr. Kendrick’s writing style is accessible, humorous and to the point. He slashes and burns the diet/cholesterol/heart hypothesis in easy-to-understand terms and with great verve. I didn’t really find much in the first part of the book that I disagreed with except for one little throw away sentence about prions causing mad cow disease. I’m one of those folks who just don’t buy that entire premise, so Dr. Kendrick’s referring to it as established medical fact was a little jarring. Other than that one false note, I was completely engrossed in the book. As anyone who reads this blog knows, Dr. Kendrick was preaching to the choir with me, but the choir certainly enjoyed it.
I’m going to excerpt a fairly long section for a couple of reasons, one of which is totally self serving. First, I want you to get the feel for Dr. Kendrick’s writing style, and second, I’ve been wanting to write a section on this blog about ad-hoc hypotheses for a while so that I could link back to it and not have to explain the term each time I write about it. Dr. Kendrick has done it perfectly, so I’ll simply link back to this post and let him do all the work.
Here is Dr. Kendrick on the ad-hoc hypothesis

But there is no evidence that any of these three factors [he’s just been talking about how people claim that garlic, red wine, and lightly cooked vegetables are protective against heart disease] are actually protective. NONE. By evidence, I mean a randomized, controlled clinical study. Not epidemiology, meta-analysis, discussions with French wine producers or green-leaf tea growers, or a trawl through the Fortean Times. In reality, the only reason that these three factors appeared was to protect the diet-heart hypothesis. They are what Karl Popper would call ‘ad-hoc hypotheses,’ which are devices that scientists use to explain away apparent contradictions to much-loved hypotheses.
Ad-hoc hypotheses work along the following lines. You find a population with a low-saturated-fat intake (and a few other classical risk factors for heart disease) – yet, annoyingly, they still have a very high rate of heart disease. One such population would be Emigrant Asian Indians in the UK. The ad-hoc hypothesis used to explain away their very high rate of heart disease is as follows. Emigrant Asian Indians are genetically predisposed to develop diabetes, which then leads to heart disease. Alakazoom! The paradox disappears.
On the other hand, if you find a population with a high-saturated-fat intake, and a low rate of heart disease, e.g. the Inuit, you can always find something they do that explains why they are protected. In their case it was the high consumption of Omega 3 fatty acids from fish. Yes, indeedy, this is where that particular substance first found fame, and hasn’t it done well since?
This particular game has no end. In 1981, a paper was published in Atherosclerosis (a crackling good read), outlining 246 factors that had been identified in various studies as having an influence in heart disease. Some were protective, some causal, some were both at the same time. If this exercise were done today I can guarantee you would find well over a thousand different factors implicated in some way. Recently, just to take one example, someone suggested that the much lower rate of heart disease in south-west France, compared to north-east France, was because the saturated fat they ate was different. In the south-west they ate more pork fat and less beef fat. So now it is no longer simply saturated fat that is deadly, it is the precise type of saturated fat, in precise proportions. Just how finely can one hypothesis be sliced before it becomes thin air?
What this highlights, to me at least, is one simple fact. Once someone decided that saturated fat causes heart disease, then NOTHING will change their minds. There is no evidence that cannot be dismissed in one way or another. And there is also no end to the development of new ad-hoc hypotheses. You can just keep plucking them out of the air endlessly – no proof required.
Genetic predisposition is one of the most commonly used ‘explain-all’ ad-hoc hypotheses, and it is a particular bug-bear of mine. Someone I knew quite well had a heart attack recently, aged 36. He was very fit, almost to international level at cycling. He was also extremely thin. His resting pulse was 50 a minute, his blood pressure was 120/70 (bang on normal). His total cholesterol level was 3.0 mmol/l, which is very low [116 mg/dL, very low indeed]. He was vegetarian and a non-smoker. I know what you’re thinking: he deserved it. Steady, he’s a nice bloke, actually, if a bit worthy.
Now, you can go through all the risk factors tables produced by the American Heart Association, the European Society of Cardiology and the British Heart Foundation – and any other cardiology society you care to mention. According to the lot of them, he had no risk factors. Therefore, he should not have had a heart attack. However, it did emerge that his father had a heart attack aged 50. A-ha! He was genetically susceptible, then! Phew, there’s your answer. I beg to differ: if you think about this in any depth, it is a completely idiotic statement to make.
If someone is genetically susceptible to heart disease, that susceptibility must operate through some identifiable mechanism. Or does a big finger suddenly appear from the sky and go: ‘Pow! Heart attack time, bad luck.’ Genetically susceptible people don’t need high LDL levels or high blood pressure. They don’t need to smoke or eat a high-fat diet. They don’t need to be overweight or have diabetes – or anything, actually. They are felled by a mysterious genetic force, operating in a way that no one can detect.
Other people are killed by risk factors. But such factors count for nothing if you are genetically susceptible. I have one word to say to this – and it’s a word I’ve used before in a similar context. Balls.

The entire book is written in this engaging style and I found myself laughing out loud often. In fact as I was reading late one night I woke MD from a sound sleep with my laughter. The book is that funny in places.
Funny, but accurate in its laying waste to the idea that fat in general and saturated fat in particular have anything to do with heart disease. Dr. Kendrick has pretty much the same take as I do on the statin issue. He has a chapter detailing all the hoopla the drug companies put out and the reality, which is that statins work only for a very few people. He even mentions our old friend Dr. John Reckless.
The latter part of the book is an elaboration of what Dr. Kendrick believes is the driving force behind heart disease: stress. I hadn’t given stress a whole lot of thought until I read this book. Now I am reconsidering it as a major risk factor and working it in to my own ideas of what causes so much heart disease.
I really can’t recommend this book strongly enough.
That’s the good. Now let’s look at the bad.
First, the book has been terribly edited. The excerpt I printed above includes a number of corrections I made on the fly. Whoever edited the book hasn’t a clue about the proper placement of commas and other punctuation. There are spelling mistakes throughout, one of which is in a chapter title. The wonderful chapter on statins is titled: What are stains and how do they work? When your editor can’t even catch a spelling error in the boldfaced font of a chapter title, you know you’re in trouble.
Next, the book doesn’t have an index, which is a major failing as far as I’m concerned. There is so much good information in the book and no way to look it up other than thumbing through the book looking for it.
Since the book is published in the UK, the units used to describe cholesterol levels are different than what people in the US are used to seeing. In the UK (and in most everywhere but the US) cholesterol units are described as mmol/l, which are pronounced milli moles per liter. In the US cholesterol is usually labeled as mg/dL, milligrams per deciliter. To convert the mmol/l you find in the book to the mg/dL you’re used to seeing, multiply the mmol/l by 39 (38.67 to be exact).
Finally, there is no bibliography, no list of citations or references. This is not a fatal failing because most people probably won’t track the references down, but it makes it a real pain if one wants to. I’m familiar with most of the papers he refers to so it wasn’t a huge handicap to me, but is still a pain. I’m pretty skilled at running the articles to earth that he mentions by author’s name or other identifying info, but others not as skilled could have real problems should they want to read the actual scientific research cited.
This last problem I understand because none of our books have a bibliography through no fault of our own. MD and I turned in manuscripts that were longer than the publishers had anticipated, so they cut the bibliographies in both Protein Power and the Protein Power LifePlan. It was either that or cut information from the text and they opted to keep the text. Maybe something like that happened to Dr. Kendrick.
So how do you get your hands on this terrific book?
You’ve got a number of choices depending upon how long you want to wait and how much you’re willing to spend. You can order a new copy through Amazon.com, which at this writing projects a wait of from 3 to 5 weeks before delivery. (I’m sure Amazon gets it from the UK then sends it to you. It said 3 to 5 weeks when I ordered mine, but it took 3 months.) If you order through Amazon.com it will cost you $11.53 plus shipping. You can order it through the used book section of Amazon.com for anywhere from $11.07 to $34.80. (As of this writing there are 9 used copies available.) Or you can do as I did and order through Amazon.co.uk, the UK version of Amazon.com. I order books all the time through Amazon.co.uk. It works just the same as the domestic version, Amazon.com. You can set up an account and order just as you do through Amazon.com. The prices are in pounds and the shipping is outrageous. I usually combine a bunch of books to minimize the shipping, but it’s still horrendous. If you order Dr. Kendrick’s book through Amazon.co.uk you will pay about $12 for the book and $10 or so for shipping, but you will get a brand new copy in about a week.
However you have to do it, I recommend that you add this book to your collection.

34 Comments

  1. Boy will Anthony Colpo be pi$$ed.
    http://www.thegreatcholesterolcon.com/
    Hi Viking Dan–
    I think the fact that the titles are the same on the two books is one of the reasons it hasn’t come out in a US version yet.
    Colpo’s book is fine.  It’s just more difficult to read due to the small print than is Kendrick’s.  And it’s a little more argumentative without being as humorous.  The two books compliment one another nicely.
    Cheers–
    MRE 

  2. Oh goodie, I’m so glad you reviewed this book. Spot on! I agree with everything you said, positives & negatives, right down to the prion theory. And I’m usually such a contrarian and not agreeable at all. 🙂
    For the most part, the problems with the lipid theories weren’t new to me, but I found the last part about his theories of what *does* possibly contribute to or cause CVD to be a very thought-provoking. Kendrick’s theory of social isolation and forced expatriation/relocation and emigration is really interesting. I wonder if one factor of my grandfather’s death in 1959 at age 50 from a heart attack was his long absences from his family. He was away long periods of time building highways in the great road expansions of the post WWII era, even as far as Alaska.
    I’ve also started to pay attention to the tension and stress levels in our family as we eat our meals. If nothing else, it will make some meals more pleasant, but who knows, it could be preserving our health & digestion, too.
    I ordered my book from Amazon.co.uk, too, then noticed I could have ordered it from the US Amazon. At least learning about the delay sooths the pain of the UK shipping somewhat.
    By any chance was one of the other books you ordered Nose to Tail Eating, by Fergus Henderson?
    Cheerio, Anna
    Hi Anna–
    I did order Nose to Tail Eating a while back. But I haven’t done anything with it. I’m not really a cook; I just play one on TV. MD is the real kitchen wizard, and I haven’t been able to get her mobilized to try any of the recipes.
    Cheers–
    MRE

  3. In physics, the constant adjustment of a bogus hypothesis-cum-conventional-wisdom to hide all the evidence it’s wrong is called “adding epicycles”.
    All of Christendom clung, for centuries, to the silly premise that the earth was the center of the universe. But if that were the case, the planets we see moving in the night sky should pass smoothly through the stars in a circle around the heavens.
    Instead, they tended to zigzag among the stars. This, of course, is because they were orbiting the sun, not earth…so they’d move forward and back as our orbit passed theirs each year, shifting them against the backdrop of the distant stars.
    In order to explain this, the Scientific Community up to Galileo’s time claimed that the planets did indeed orbit the earth, but that they also spun around on little wheels in their orbit, which made them seem to go backward. They called the little wheels “epicycles”.
    Each time their observations showed yet another way the planets didn’t orbit us, they added whatever new epicycles were necessary to explain it away. Eventually, instead of one extra for each orbit (to explain the planets reversing direction once per each of Earth’s orbits) they needed over forty.
    To this day, physics follows the same stupid path…each “theory” that is found not to match observation has extra equations tacked on until it does. When other, competing physicists grow annoyed with this, they refer to it as “adding epicycles”.
    A long story, but anyway that’s precisely what your author there is talking about the medical community doing.
    Hi Kaz–
    Thanks for the interesting comment.
    Cheers–
    MRE 

  4. If Ravnskov’s scholarly work “The Cholesterol Myths” was burned in public on Finnish TV, what will happen with this 266 page continuous trashing of modern cardiology? To be frank I’m amazed it is even allowed in to the USA, people might stop cutting the fat off of their steaks! I agree, a must read.
    Peter
    Cholesterophile

  5. It’s the first time I’ve found myself laughing out loud while reading about heart disease!
    I agree that it’s a shame about the many typos and the lack of index (a shortcoming shared by Colpo’s book, but for Colpo’s, I coughed up a few more dollars to get the pdf version so I can get the computer to search it).
    I found the stress idea very interesting, too – especially thinking about how it would exacerbate the problems of a high carb diet.
    The whole book is as fun to read as the excerpt I posted.  Get it and laugh through the whole thing.
    Cheers–
    MRE 

  6. This sounds like an interesting read, but like you, I’d be bothered by the poor editing. However, I must point out that there are a couple of things the Brits do with punctuation that are “perfectly proper”. (Including what I just did, put the period outside the quotation mark.)
    I’m still hoping “Fiber Menace” is on your list for a review sometime soon. I’ve been reading that one and am interested in your take.
    On the subject of “where to find that book,” I must enthusiastically recommend a little gizmo I recently found called Book Burro, which you can download at bookburro.org.
    Book Burro senses when you’re looking at a book (say, on Amazon) and gives you a little unobtrusive overlaid window (sort of like a popup) in the upper left corner. When you click on it, it shows a list with not only the Amazon price of the book you’re looking at but also the price at other sellers: Abebooks (which I use quite a lot for hard-to-find books), Half, Alibris, etc.
    Best, perhaps, is that you can include WorldCat, which will tell you what libraries have your book. You plug in your zip code during setup and it will then show a list of the libraries that have the book you’re looking for by distance from your zip code. It includes university libraries as well as public ones. Quite convenient! –Anne
    Hi Anne–
    I’ve got Fiber Menace and I’ve started it.  I plan to read a bunch of it on the plane later today.  It is a typical self-published book.  It’s overwritter, poorly laid out, and in serious need of a good editor.  I almost can’t bring myself to read a self-published book anymore because most are so hideously done.
    I will post on it once I muddle through.
    Thanks for the tip on Book Burro.  It’s just what I need: a device that allows me to shop for even more books.
    Cheers–
    MRE 

  7. The entire book is written in this engaging style and I found myself laughing out loud often. In fact as I was reading late one night I woke MD from a sound sleep with my laughter. The book is that funny in places.
    I just finished reading it yesterday and you’re so right – he has you laughing out loud throughout! Loved the “statinate, statinate, statinate!”
    And the HPA-axis dysfunction, driven by stress, makes sense – a heck of a lot more sense than the diet-heart-cholesterol-saturated-fat hypothesis! His approach to the concept, the “what fits the facts” definitely works; I do think too he could have, and should have, taken it one more step to diet as a stressor.
    Hi Regina–
    I think that diet is a real stressor.  I’ve been pondering that idea for a while.
    Cheers–
    MRE 

  8. I’ve read Colpo’s book already and thoroughly enjoyed it, though it is not humorous. With my reading list already longer than I have time for (damn jobs), should I read this one also or is the information mostly redundant.
    Joe
    Hi Joe–
    Some is redundant, but I think you should read it. It looks at the situation from a little different perspective and goes into the statin issue a little more than Anthony Colpo does. And I think Dr. Kendrick’s description of stress as a risk factor is terrific.
    And, unlike the Colpo book, it is a very quick read. 
    Cheers–
    MRE

  9. Colpo also comes to the conclusion that stress is a big factor with heart disease and he shows us the evidence. He points to Dean Ornish’s (ironic) program and notes his meditation/relaxation is part of it. I remember I was reading Colpo just when Ken Lay died last year.
    Here’s a small bit from the Washington Post.

    “Enron’s Lay Dies Of Heart Attack
    Convicted Founder Faced Life in Prison
    By Carrie Johnson
    Washington Post Staff Writer
    Thursday, July 6, 2006; Page A01
    Kenneth L. Lay, who catapulted Enron Corp. into the ranks of the nation’s largest companies only to be convicted of fraud after its collapse, died early yesterday after suffering what a family spokeswoman said was a heart attack at a rental property in Old Snowmass, Colo.
    Lay, 64, faced the prospect of spending the rest of his life in prison after a Houston jury in May found him guilty of conspiring to inflate the energy company’s stock price and misleading investors and employees who lost billions of dollars in its 2001 bankruptcy. Friends said Lay”….snip

    I doubt he started eating a lot of saturated fat lately.
    Hi Peter–
    I thought the same thing when Lay died.  The stress must have been enormous.
    Best–
    MRE 

  10. Art DeVany talks at length about the role of stress and stress hormones in inflammation and heart disease. Inflammation (brought on by stress, among other things) seems to be a major culprit from some of the things that I’ve read.
    A commenter on his site summed up the cholesterol/stress heart relationship beautifully:
    “The only way your cholesterol levels will kill you is if you worry about them.”
    Hi Keenan–
    A great quote.  I wish I had thought of it.  I may borrow it from time to time, but I’ll return it clean and ironed.
    Cheers–
    MRE 

  11. It is such a shame about the poor–or should I say nonexistent? editing of this book. Kendrick is one of my favorite absurdity skewer-ers. I have read all his articles posted on the THINCs website. How much of this book is a duplication of those articles? Did he expand various areas? I think it is worth having his lucid prose collected in one grand reference, but I am wondering how much is new information or analysis.
    Marilyn
    Hi Marilyn–
    I don’t know how much duplication there is in the book.  I haven’t read much on the THINCs website, so I can’t compare.  Maybe some of the other readers can.
    Cheers–
    MRE 

  12. May I suggest that you publish your Bibliographies to your blog? Or have you done so already and I missed it? I, for one, would love to have them.
    Hi Grandma Ann–
    They are in the works.
    Cheers–
    MRE 

  13. Dr. Mike:
    Thanks for your review of Dr. K’s book. I like it! Just started reading it myself, but only up around first chapters so far. Agree with you totally on the lousey job Dr. K’s publisher did. In addition to short-comings you have noted, let me add that the book should also have included biographical info on him. Without that, the book looks less authoritative (on the surface), than it in fact is if the reader takes the trouble to Google Dr. Kendrick and look up his background.
    BTW: My spouse and I recently purchased your PP and PPLP books (and are actually reading them!). We have both been on your intervention level regimen for about a week and my wife has already lost 5 lbs. It’s going slower for me, but we both feel great with a noticeable improvement in energy level and “well-beingness.” We are now highly motivated to keep at it. Many thanks.
    BTW #2: Back to Dr. K’s book – although I have only started reading it, his review / debunking of the cholesterol “hypothesis” makes me wonder why (hypothetically), I should worry at all about what my own cholesterol level is and just focus on the insulin / glucose balancing, normalization, etc. that I think I’m achieving on your regimen. In other words (hypothetically again), if I feel great, if my bp is within normal range and if I have my body weight somewhere near optimal, what should I care if (hypothetically) my cholesterol is above the NCEP guidelines? Comment please.
    Wil
    Hi Wil–
    In my opinion you don’t particularly have to worry about it.  If all the other parameters of health are okay – BP, weight, blood sugar, etc. – then who cares about a little bit of cholesterol elevation?  Remember, the whole idea that cholesterol has anything to do with heart disease is an hypothesis, not established fact.  That means that there is NO definitive evidence that cholesterol levels mean squat, no matter how much some ill-informed people blather on about them.
    Cheers–
    MRE 

  14. I don’t think that titles can be copyrighted in the US–content,yes, title, no.
    As I understand it, you are correct. Content can by copyrighted but titles can not.

    MRE 

  15. “The whole book is as fun to read as the excerpt I posted. Get it and laugh through the whole thing.
    Cheers–
    MRE ”
    I bought it about a month ago – and read it the same day. As you said, it’s a very easy and entertaining read. I must go back again and get to grips with some of the detail on the stress theory.
    A while back when you posted about most people with heart disease being smokers, I mentioned that my father has had bypass surgery but never smoked (nor been overweight, had high bp or high cholesterol or a family history of heart disease). What he did have was his own business, and the sort of personality that stopped him telling any of the family when things were stressful. Most days the rest of us ate together at 6, then he came home much later and ate a warmed up dinner on his own, probably while stewing over his day at work. Add in the fact that he was the only one in the house with a sweet tooth and the heart disease becomes less of a mystery. Luckily he’s sold the business and retired now, so as long as he survives the statins and benecol he should be OK.
    Hi Janet–
    I’ve heard from so many people who have had or who have known people who have had heart attacks and heart disease and never smoked that I have revised my opinion.  One of the people is my own business partner, who had a bad heart attack at age 46 and had never smoked.  Somehow I forgot about him when I was stating my case that everyone I had ever known who had a heart attack was a smoker or had been at some point.
    Hope your dad does well now that he’s more relaxed. 
    Cheers–
    MRE 

  16. Professor Lutz (I hope you know him) had also a theory about the balance of hormones (catabolic vs anabolic, insulin vs cortisol) that rejoins Dr.K. theory about stress. Lutz’s theory was more centered on the dietary aspect of the equation and how high-carb break havoc on this balance. He had some examples of people with cushing syndrome he cured with his low-carb regimen.
    Hi gallier2–
    I am well acquainted with Dr. Wolfgang Lutz. His 1987 book, Dismantling a Myth: The Role of Fat and Carbohydrates in Our Diet, in virtually new condition is one of my most prized possessions.
    I love how he uses the low-carb diet not just for weight loss, but for weight gain as well in those who have had metabolic problems.
    Cheers–
    MRE 

  17. I love Dr. Kendrick’s writings and used to read him all the time when Red Flags was active. His sense of humor is infectious. I’ve always agreed with his ideas about stress and heart disease being related. I’ll have to get his book along with Anthony Colpo’s. (Darn, my book budget would be so much bigger these days if I’d just quit buying accessories for my new computerized sewing machine.) I did get Fiber Menace and I am currently working my way through it. I’m not agreeing with everything he’s saying but so much of what he writes does make sense of my experiences with IBS over the years. I’d be interested in hearing about what you think about his comments on water consumption. I’ve never been one to drink a lot of water and always bloat if I try to. There are LCers out there who are big on drinking at least a gallon of water a day. It would be running out of my ears if I drank that much.
    Hi Esther–
    I’m slogging my way through Fiber Menace, but it’s so poorly edited that it’s a real drag.  In intended to read a lot of it during our flight yesterday, but my angst over U.S.Air menace forced me to read some lighter material.  I did get about half of it read on the first flight. I”ll post a review when I get finished.
    I, too, have never been a big water drinker.  I pretty much agree with him on that subject, but there is much I’ve read so far that I don’t agree with.
    Cheers–
    MRE 

  18. Dr. K is one of my favorite writers. His essays on the THINCS web site are worth reading, as is his book. I enjoy his humor. But more importantly, its his logic that I recommend.
    I need to hit the essays on the THINCs website.  So much to read, so little time.
    Cheers–
    MRE 

  19. Dr. Eades,
    Could you elaborate on prions and BSE/(CJD)?
    Thanks,
    Phil
    Uh, sure, the next time I have 3 or 4 free hours.  I’ll post on it sometime, but suffice it to say, I’m not a believer in the prion theory of CJD.  I think it has been totally discredited along with Stanley Prusiner it’s main promoter. Here is an old piece in Slate by my friend Gary Taubes on Prusiner and his Nobel prize.
    Cheers–
    MRE 

  20. Hello,
    Mark Purdey was a great promoter of an alternative explanation for BSE.
    http://www.markpurdey.com/index.html
    I learned he passed away recently and it’s really sad. His theory makes a lot more sense than the official one, but we know now that this is nothing uncommon.
    Hi gallier2–
    I’m familiar with Mark Purdey’s work.  I don’t know if he’s right or not, but I’m pretty sure that the prion theory of BSE is wrong.
    Cheers–
    MRE 

  21. I suspect Malcolm Kendrick had a hard time finding a publisher, his book was a long time hitting the streets. I can’t believe a big publisher would have made the mistakes John Blake Publishing have made.
    Anthony Colpo had to pay for the printing of his book (never mind get an advance.
    Great books both, but sadly not seen as serious sellers by publishers it seems.
    re CJD and BSE
    Worth a search on ‘Mark Purdey’
    Mark is an English farmer who believed BSE is caused by organophophate treatment of warble fly infestation in animals, and I think also linked to high manganese / low copper.
    He died in 2006 of a brain tumour
    Hi Neil–
    I’m familiar with Mark Purdey’s theories.  I didn’t realize he had died.
    Best–
    MRE 

  22. Two books that take a whole-body approach to the effects of stress I found very useful were:
    Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers -y Robert Sapolsky
    The End of Stress As We Know It – Bruce McEwen
    I’ve lived with treatment-resistant panic disorder for 33 years. These books helped me understand how have a nervous system persistently in sympathetic mode might’ve been factors in the development of IGT and cognitive deficits.
    Between Protein Power and Diabetes Solution, I’ve managed to push my BGs into normoglycemic range in two years time. The neurons are taking a bit longer to heal, though.
    Hi Steve–
    I’ve read the Sapolsky book but haven’t read the other.  I think I have it, I just haven’t read it.
    Congrats on becoming normoglycemic.  It will take a while for the neurons to heal, but they should ultimately if you continue your good blood sugar control.
    Cheers–
    MRE 

  23. Thanks for telling us about this book.
    I order many books through amazon.com UK, which I can’t get here. For example, the European “version” of low carb, The New High Protein Diet by Dr. Charles Clark (a Scottish Endocrinologist), was unavailable here for the longest time, so I ordered all his books through amazon.uk. Great books by the way.
    I notice his revised edition, and also his book on diabetes which will be out in October, will now available here in the states on amazon.
    I’m glad you gave amazon UK a good plug. My husband orders his business books through them, some of which are just unavailable here, and their customer service is excellent.
    I love your blog! EVERYTHING on it is so interesting. Keep up the great work!
    Hi Sheryl–
    Thanks for the kind words about the blog.
    I had lunch with Dr. Edinburgh a couple of years ago.  He is a very nice guy.
    Cheers–
    MRE 

  24. Dr. Eades
    I can’t imagine a book more thorough than Anthony Colpo’s
    it is documented proof of cholesterol fraud. Don’t you think????
    Sure.  And so is Dr. Ravsnkov’s and Dr. Kendrick’s.  I enjoyed Anthony’s book and thought it was filled with good info.  I recommend the three books to anyone who wants to know more about the lack of underpinning of the lipid hypothesis.
    Cheers–
    MRE 

  25. What can we do to get all 3 books major media exposure?
    Pray for luck.  The best bet is word of mouth.  If any or all of the books gain wide readership the publishers will jump to the front of the parade and start promoting the books.  Until then, it won’t happen. 

  26. I read your article with interest, and will order the book pronto. I was diagnosed with high cholesterol, 9.5, about 8 years ago, and was prescribed statins, after which my cholesterol went down to 5.
    I have always eaten sensibly, I never buy convenience food and never cook with fat, as I had hepititas A when I was 10 years of age and cannot tolerate greasy food. But I have a weight problem which started after the age of 40, and I also have an underactive thyroid.
    All the time took these I never felt well, and when my particular brand was discontinued for safety reasons, the replacement made me feel really ill, I felt as though all of my energy had been drained from me, even breathing was an effort. After 5 days I stopped taking them and told my GP why. I don’t know what my cholesterol is these days and don’t worry about it, my grandmother and mother who didn’t know what cholesterol was both died at 91 years of age.
    Hi Michelle–
    I think you’ve made a wise decision.  I’m sure you will enjoy Dr. Kendrick’s book a lot.

    Keep me posted.
    Cheer–
    MRE 

  27. I just read this book. It was excellent. Funny and to the point. This whole diet/cholesterol/heart theory conspiracy rather reminds me of the story of the Emperor’s new clothes. Just as everyone in the story sees that the Emperor is naked, but refuse to say so, it seems to me that quite a few people when confronted with contradictory evidence for the diet/heart hypothesis seem to have the same reaction. The answers are there but they refuse to see them or rather, except them. No one wants to be the one that states the obvious, when no one else does. Well, except Kendrick. Hopefully, enough people, read this book to make a difference, so that the Emperor can finally go and put some clothes on!
    Olga
    Hi Olga–
    I’m glad you enjoyed the book.
    Cheers–
    MRE

  28. “I have always eaten sensibly, I never buy convenience food and never cook with fat, as I had hepititas A when I was 10 years of age and cannot tolerate greasy food. But I have a weight problem which started after the age of 40, and I also have an underactive thyroid.”
    You shouldn’t lump all fats together. Saturated fats don’t cause hepatitis (liver inflammation), because they are anti-inflammatory (or rather, non-inflammatory). PUFAs, esp omega-6, cause many inflammatory problems. The best fat for cooking is Virgin Coconut Oil, IMO, because it’s highly saturated and resists free radical damage. Most people eat too much PUFAs nowadays, in the form of unsaturated vegetable oils, nuts, seeds, etc. The bests fats are saturated fats, such as coconut, palm kernel, butter, suet, beef, lamb, palm oil, and leaf lard. Macadamas do not have much PUFAs and they have a higher ratio of saturated fat than most nuts.
    According to Ray Peat and many others, the unsaturated fats suppress thyroid function and the immune system, so you are more likely to gain weight and get sick. I never get sick now, because I base my diet on saturated fat (over 50% of total fat). Butter, ghee, coconut, palm, suet, beef, lamb, dark chocolate, leaf lard, and so forth. When you think inflammation, think PUFAs. Saturated fats are innocent. They have no role in causing liver damage. They protect and strengthen the liver, even when people are exposed to alcohol and poisons.
    http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/coconut-oil.shtml
    http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/fats-degeneration.shtml
    http://raypeat.com/articles/nutrition/oils-in-context.shtml
    Hi Bruce–
    Thanks for the links. Saturated fats do indeed protect the liver, especially from alcoholic damage.
    Cheers–
    MRE

  29. I received the book yesterday and laughed at least a good half dozen times in the first four chapters (then it was bedtime).
    I also read the foreword in the Brain Trust Program, written by another great author who’s writing I am very fond of.
    By the way I received “La Dieta De Bajos Carbohidratos De 30 Dias” along with it’s English language counterpart. Unfortunately the Spanish version has a few crucial omissions. Whoever translated it was not on the ball, or was confused (or the editor assumed they must mean this instead of that). For instance when talking about HDL, it omits “HDL” so it gives the wrong message… I skimmed through it and made some pencil corrections for when my father reads it.
    I wonder if “The Great Cholesterol Con” or “Good Calories, Bad Calories” will be available in Spanish. There’s a book by the same title “Buenas Calorias, Malas Calorias” but it’s filled witht he usual hogwash, as it’s written by a nutritionist.
    Protein Power nor Protein Power lifeplan are not available in Spanish as far as I could find out.
    Regards,
    Alex
    Hi Alex–
    I’m glad you’re reading the Brain Trust Program. I’m going to review it soon.
    I imagine that GCBC will sooner or later make it into Spanish. I’m not so certain about The Great Cholesterol Con.
    Cheers–
    MRE

  30. You may have seen this already. In November 2007, Malcolm Kendrick made a presentation to the British Medical Association. Fortunately for all of us, the presentation is available in five YouTube videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPPYaVcXo1I
    The sound is not great, but the presentation is very clear and reasonably entertaining. I have posted a link on my Food Law Blog at http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/foodlaw/2008/03/saturated-fat-c.html
    (An aside — I have recommended Protein Power to my friends and relatives for years now. I think you guys are great!)
    I think I posted on this some time in the past. Thanks for the links again for those who didn’t see it the first time.

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