Heart attack!!! What now? It is not cholesterol
by Dr Willem Serfontein
(Rosslyn Press, R89)
The central message is quite simple: taking drugs alone is not enough to prevent heart attacks. The drugs effectively lower “bad” LDL cholesterol and the risk of a heart attack in many middle-aged men, but often do not extend life (one just needs to read the package inserts of these drugs for the risks and side effects). There is more to preventing cardiovascular damage than lowering LDL.
I am a true fan of Willem Serfontein’s books since his well-known New Nutrition (Tafelberg 2001) and have taken to heart (the pun is accidental) its chapter on the limitations of the cholesterol assumption in cardiovascular diseases of various types.
This provided me with my introduction to the deadly lipoprotein (a). Cardiologists do not often test for this cholesterol. Its levels are not lowered with normal drug therapy, but it has been directly linked to heart attacks.
I was excited to get this 72-page book. I expected to find an authori-tative update on the debate about the effectiveness of treatment with the “statin” drugs, such as simvastatin and atorvastatin, alternative therapies, lifestyle changes and the like.
I thought there would be improved evidence on both sides of the argument. I hoped the discussions would include the European consensus report (published in 2004) on the need for treatment additional to reduced doses of the statin drugs to save lives in the long term.
I expected an analysis of the studies that confirm the link between high lipoprotein (a) levels and increased risk of heart attack (published in 2009), and those that recommend low doses of statins augmented with nicotinic acid and essential fatty acids as safe, life-prolonging treatments (published in 2007, 2009 and 2010).
I hoped that the claim that oxidised cholesterol is more active and damaging than the low density lipids would have been more strongly supported or challenged by now than was possible in 2001.
I also expected that for one who has had a heart attack this book would provide firm evidence-based guidelines for lifestyle and nutritional changes such as moderate exercise and a strong shift towards whole-plant based foods that provide the antioxidants and vitamin K1 to protect and heal.
But I was to be disappointed.
This is a rather incoherent text based on the debates before 2003.
The theme that simply lowering low density lipids (LDL-cholesterol) will not protect against arterial and organ damage in the longer term virtually fills the entire book. It scarcely mentions lipoprotein (a) and triglycerides and how their levels may be reduced and has almost no information on nicotinic acid supplementation.
It tells you why statins often don’t prevent heart attacks, but provides little evidence for what will.
Most disconcerting, at the end of the book there are a few pages on a supplement derived from blue-green algae from North America. It is true that there is current research that investigates how stem cells may repair damage to arteries and heart muscle. But that this supplement is supposed to stimulate the release of stem cells and is able to provide the healing benefit is purely speculative. The quality of evidence is far, far weaker than even the weakest of evidence supporting statin treatment that Serfontein criticises so much in the rest of the book.
Refusing statin treatment with some universally recognised benefits and costing between R80 and R400 a month, but suggesting a supplement that costs much more than R400 a month, with no demonstrated benefit or information about safety with long-term use, is totally irresponsible.
The book lacks up-to-date information and is of little value for someone who’s had a heart attack.
It is severely flawed in its organisation, is repetitious and has no index. It provides no credible guidelines for alternative or supportive treatments or dietary or lifestyle changes.
One is left with the question “What now?” unanswered.
I strongly recommend that if you are serious about your health, or have had a heart attack, that you do not spend time and money on this text.
Rather buy New Nutrition. This time, Dr Serfontein does not have the answer. – Max Braun