Don Wiss <[log in to unmask]> asked:

> Has anyone read his book? Is it the same as his web pages?
>
> http://www.newtrendspublishing.com/Ravnskov/


I have read it.  It is an MUCH expanded version of the papers he had posted
at the old swipnet address, including detailed graphs and more.  The address
you have posted has only 14 pages of the introduction, not the entire book.

I highly recommend it.  Ravnskov goes into great detail explaining things
such as the unreliability of fat consumption data and diet recall studies
(used as foundations of the lipid hypothesis), heart attack death rates
(studies have shown that given the same patient death, U.S. docs are more
inclined to attribute it to coronary disease, whereas Brits and Norwegians
are more inclined to attribute it to lung or brain disease), and the
difference between a risk factor and a cause (most people, including
doctors, confuse the two).

Also, he critically analyzes all major studies claiming to link cholesterol
or saturated fats to coronary artery disease, showing that all abuse
statistics (for example citing relative rather than absolute risk, which
inflates small numbers into big numbers) or have gross methodological errors
or simply ignore contradictory evidence (such as the Masai and Samburu, who
consume huges amounts of SFAs yet have low serum cholesterols and virtually
no heart disease, but also including contradictory evidence from
industrialized countries, some of it collected by diet-heart proponents, but
ignored by the same).

Well, there  is a lot more to it.  A  whole chapter on the dangers of
polyunsaturates, a section detailing the flaws in the Ornish study, a
chapter exposing the fallacy of "good" and "bad" cholesterol (it never has
been shown that high LDL is "bad"), a section indicating that most (probably
80%) people with extraordinarily high cholesterol due to familial
hypercholesterolemia never have coronary disease (if high cholesterol causes
the disease then 100% of these people should have it), and more.

I have read two books on lipids in nutrition, both by renowned biochemists,
one by Prof Brisson and one by Prof Gurr, both of which made some of the
points (criticising the lipid hypothesis) made by Ravsnokov, but Ravsnokov
is much more thorough.

All in all a great book.  Beware it is by the nature of its topic somewhat
dry, but well worth the effort.

Don