World Renowned Heart Surgeon Speaks Out On What Really Causes Heart Disease

http://myscienceacademy.org/2012/08/19/world-renown-heart-surgeon-speaks-out-on-what-really-causes-heart-disease/

by oracuk • 13 years ago

14 14 13 years ago

nodata• 13 years ago

tl;dr cholesterol is not the problem, things that inflame the arteries, e.g. high processed carbs and over consumption of certain oils

th0br0• 13 years ago

Dwight C. Lundell, M.D. lost medical license in 2008. Since that time he has been promoting books that clash with established scientific knowledge of heart disease prevention and treatment. His book, The Great Cholesterol Lie, invites people to "forget about everything you have been told about low-fat diets, saturated fats, cholesterol and the causes of heart disease."

http://www.quackwatch.org/11Ind/lundell.html

coldcode• 13 years ago

Sigh. People read the original article and think the guy is amazing. I doubt most people would even find the second.

wyclif• 13 years ago

Why is quack doctor content on HN?

grannyg00se2• 13 years ago

That's a nice ad hominem collection there. Not one point I could find about his actual claims. He didn't file his taxes properly? Bad patient review history? These things are not relevant to the scientific claims he puts forth.

bradleyland• 13 years ago

Ad hominem isn't always a bad thing. The fact that someone lost their medical license is good information when evaluating professional credibility. Professional credibility is absolutely important when evaluating someone's claims.

ceautery• 13 years ago

That reads too much like baloney.

grannyg00se2• 13 years ago

Another slam against overconsumption of sugar and processed foods. This guy may not have the best reputation but the advice doesn't seem all that bad.

skylan_q2• 13 years ago

I'm glad that there will be that 1% or so of people who pick up this article and have it change their minds. :)

That dietary cholesterol necessarily causes heart damage is taken as a matter of faith. :(

NAFV_P• 13 years ago

"Well,smokers perhaps, but at least they made that choice willfully." He knows very little about smoking.

pgcudahy• 13 years ago

This is pure quackery. The cholesterol -> heart disease framework was developed by the Framingham studies (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Framingham_Heart_Study) that showed a strong correlation between cholesterol and heart attacks and strokes. Now correlation does not equal causation but decades of subsequent studies have shown that cardiac event rates drop linearly with decrease in LDL (a form of cholesterol) (http://www.nature.com/nrcardio/journal/v8/n12/fig_tab/nrcard...). It has culminated so far in the JUPITER trial (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JUPITER_trial) where people with "normal" LDL levels and no history of heart disease were able to decrease their heart attack risk with statins by driving their LDL even lower. The whole inflammation stuff came into play because JUPITER also looked at an inflammatory marker called CRP. Now, that angle is still controversial but could play a role. However, it does not invalidate the dozens of studies linking cholesterol to heart disease. Plus there is nothing linking this guy's quack theories on nutrition to inflammation/CRP or ultimately to heart attacks.

I'm surprised that it made it this high on HN. Maybe people just love feeling that "freakanomics" feeling of mental superiority that they're willing to swallow any alternative hypothesis that challenges the norm. Maybe people just don't trust medical science.

skylan_q2• 13 years ago

Maybe people just love feeling that "freakanomics" feeling of mental superiority that they're willing to swallow any alternative hypothesis that challenges the norm. Maybe people just don't trust medical science.

I hope it's the case.

It was fat, then it was cholesterol, then it was LDL, now it's pattern B LDL that shows a correlation. The ratio of HDL/LDL still factors in as well as triglyceride levels. The jury is still out there as to whether that specific type of LDL is what causes damage or is a sign of damage being caused.

To act as if we can say "cut out all cholesterol because it's bad for you" is wrongheaded. We know there is a correlation with these factors as we measure them in the blood. We can't say with a high degree of certainty that eating a certain way will cause a certain effect on people. But when people are taking in over 20% of their caloric intake as saturated fat and showing incredibly healthy cardiovascular health readings, you've got to wonder if the common wisdom is something we should be comfortable with.

oracuk• 13 years ago

In hindsight I wish I had done more than just read this article before I submitted it.

A lesson learnt.

World Renowned Heart Surgeon Speaks Out On What Really Causes Heart Disease

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