Is There a Placebo Effect?

Does high cholesterol really cause heart disease? Is there such as thing as “good” and “bad” cholesterol? What impact do statins – the most profitable drug in the history of medicine – have on human health? In this episode, Dr Malcolm Kendrick, author of The Great Cholesterol Con and The Clot Thickens, joins us to challenge the conventional wisdom on cholesterol. He shares his view on the diet-heart hypothesis, his intriguing alternative explanation for heart disease, and what he recommends to maintain a healthy heart. We also discuss how and why fiat medicine and economics have many “endlessly adaptable hypotheses" that refuse to die no matter how much reality assaults them.

References

• Dr Kendrick on Twitter.
• Dr Kendrick’s website.
• Dr Kendrick’s books: The Great Cholesterol Con, Doctoring Data and The Clot Thickens
• European cardiovascular disease statistics 2008 edition showing lower cardiovascular disease prevalence in countries with higher saturated fat in the diet. For more on this topic, see this blog post by Dr Kendrick.
• Website of the International Network of Cholesterol Sceptics
• Dr Kendrick's blog post on Carl von Rokitansky and Rudolf Virchow and the 1852 explanation of heart disease. 
• Saifedean’s first book, The Bitcoin Standard.
• Saifedean’s second book, The Fiat Standard.

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