Media

No Bad Fat, All Good Fat including Cholesterol: a re-evaluation of the diet/heart disease hypothesis

22 Mar 2010

HKU Libraries' Reading Club

Theme books:

The great cholesterol con : the truth about what really causes heart disease and how to avoid it
The great cholesterol con : why everything you've been told about cholesterol, diet and heart disease is wrong!

Speaker : Professor Marcel S.F. Lie Ken Jie
Date : 25 March 2010 (Thursday)
Time : 7:15 pm - 9:00 pm
Venue : Special Collections, 1/F, Main Library, The University of Hong Kong
Language : English

Registration: http://lib.hku.hk/friends/reading_club/bt2010_4.html

About the Speaker

Professor Marcel S.F. Lie Ken Jie, Retired Chair Professor of the Department of Chemistry of The University of Hong Kong; Honorary Professor in the Department of Chemistry, School of Biological Sciences, School of Nursing of the University of Hong Kong; Honorary Professor of Core Curriculum and General Education, Lingnan University.

About the Talk

The diet/heart disease hypothesis is not as conclusive as once thought. The hypothesis states that elevated levels of LDL ("bad") cholesterol have a higher risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). The prevailing wisdom among medical and public health professionals is that dietary saturated fat and cholesterol present a threat to cardiovascular diseases. HDL ("good") cholesterol was discovered to have the opposite effect on risk of CVD to LDL cholesterol. Recent research has found that the link between dietary fat and human disease is not conclusive and that there is a clear health benefit to consuming a reduced-carbohydrate diet without substantial restriction of fat content. The lowering of total serum cholesterol through drug interference (the use of statins, a.k.a. anti-cholesterol drugs) does not remove the threat to cardiovascular diseases. The downside of anti-cholesterol drugs is that such drugs can cause serious side effects as exemplified by severe muscle damage in the case of cerivastatin, which was linked to over 50 deaths and withdrawn from the market in 2001.

The speaker will visit some of research evidences on cholesterol issues vis-à-vis CDV from two recent books: viz. The Great Cholesterol Con, by Anthony Colpo (2006) and separately by Malcolm Kendrick (2007) and provide a "rethink" on dietary saturated fat and cholesterol.

About the Reading Club

HKU Libraries Reading Club was established in 2001 to promote the cultural and intellectual life of Hong Kong.  The Reading Club sponsors a series of book talks featuring leading members of the Hong Kong intellectual community. At these book talks, we invite interesting people to talk about books that interest the them.