LDL-Cholesterol Does Not Cause CVD, a Review
A paper published in Expert Review of Clincical Pharmacolagy, authored by Uffe Ravnskov concludes that low density lipoprotein cholesterol does not cause cardiovascular disease. In the paper, Dr. Ravnskov makes several points that contradict decades of status quo.
Some of his conclusions are:
- No association between total cholesterol (TC) and degree of artherosclerosis.
- TC causing CVD is an idea supported by fraudulent reviews of the literature.
- The association between TC and CVD is weak, absent or invers in many studies.
- LDL-C of patients with acute myocardial infarction is lower than normal.
- Elderly people with high LDL-C live the longest.
- Cholesterol-lowering treatment does not lower the risk of CVD.
- The benefit of statin is exaggerated.
- Adverse events from statins are common.
- New PCSK-9 drugs lowered LDL-C by 60%, though CVD mortality and total mortality slightly increased.
His final conclusion, "The idea that high cholesterol levels in the blood are the main cause of CVD is impossible because people with low levels become just as atherosclerotic as people with high levels and their risk of suffering from CVD is the same or higher. The cholesterol hypothesis has been kept alive for decades by reviewers who have used misleading statistics, excluded the results from unsuccessful trials and ignored numerous contradictory observations."
Source: Expert Review of Clinical Pharmacology, Accepted author version poste online: 10 Sep 2018., published online 11 Oct. 2018., Ravnskov, Uffe, et al.