Cholesterol Clarity: What The HDL Is Wrong With My Numbers? (2013) - Plot & Excerpts
The author's expressed goal was to make some confusing information about diet and cholesterol clear to the average reader. I believe he achieved that goal well and in the process elucidated a lot of more recent thinking about the role of cholesterol in the body. As a person with a history of heart issues, I especially appreciated sections with information about the blood test results I've been seeing, and which are more significant than others. This is a worthwhile resource to either read all the way through, or peruse separate chapters when that particular information is needed. Cholesterol Clarity explains that the cholesterol hypothesis is well and truly dead! The current obsession with cholesterol levels and avoiding saturated fat and cholesterol in the diet is utterly misguided.This book was very convincing on this point but if you'd like a far more in depth explanation and history I'd highly recommend 'Good Calories, Bad Calories' by Gary Taubes. This book is also impeccably referenced and argued.This book explains that:- High cholesterol levels don't cause heart disease- A high fat diet, saturated or otherwise, does not affect blood cholesterol levels- Saturated fats are not in any way damaging or dangerous- Statins offer very little protection against heart disease and are not worth taking for most people, especially women- Concepts of good and bad cholesterol are ridiculous and 'madcap'- Statin drugs are the most profitable drug ever and make pharmaceutical companies billions and billions of dollars a year and this is why the cholesterol hypothesis continues to be so relentlessly promoted- Matthias Rath (as supported by Linus Pauling) has part of the heart disease puzzle right when he talks about the role of low vitamin C levels in causing heart disease- Statin drugs have many dangerous side-effects such as muscle pain, depression and progressive memory loss, death and hideous deformed babies when given during pregnancy- Low cholesterol levels are bad for your health- The war against cholesterol, using statins, comes close to a crime against humanityI'd also recommend The Great Cholesterol Con by M. Kendrick (aside from the last chapter which is not great) or The Cholesterol Myths by Uffe Ravnskov or Mary Enig PhD's book on healthy fats and oils. Reading excellent books on how to treat or avoid heart problems such as 'Detoxify or Die' or 'The Cholesterol Hoax' by Dr Sherry Rogers and books on diet by Nora Gedgaudas and others would be a good next step for health.Cholesterol Clarity is an easy read, if a bit repetitive and needlessly long. All the MANY quotes by doctors throughout were brilliant! I'm a big fan of living as healthily as you can and putting your focus and money there and then not bothering to get all the complex triglyceride tests etc. - as were some of the doctors quoted in this book so eloquently. So I'd have preferred all the complex cholesterol testing information in this book to be relegated to an appendix at the back and taken out of the main text. This book (or another one like it) is essential reading if you're an egg yolk, cholesterol or saturated fat dodger and especially if you're taking a statin drug. Don't fall for the statin drug hype and be very wary of any doctor that does!Jodi Bassett, The Hummingbirds' Foundation for M.E. (HFME) and Health, Healing & Hummingbirds (HHH)
What do You think about Cholesterol Clarity: What The HDL Is Wrong With My Numbers? (2013)?
Everything you need to know about cholesterol and nutrition.
—Mish
Lots of good information. Not so engagingly written.
—Tia
Great book about the basics of cholesterol
—alexandra
