The Heart Revolution: The B Vitamin Breakthrough That Lowers Homocysteine, Cuts Your Risk of Heart Disease, and Protects Your Health

by Martha McCully and Kilmer S. McCully

Eat your way to a healthier heart! This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060192372
• ISBN13: 9780060192372
• Release Date: October 1999
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Length: 234 Pages
• Weight: 1.06 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.4" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Heart-health without cholesterol fear -a best read!

This book gives easy, doable and simple prevention solutions to heart disease, including increasing B vitamins that lower a natural blood-vessel toxin we all -without exception- make, homocysteine.Dr. McCully discovered the vital role of this molecule in heart disease [now with roles in over 100 diseases] but his insistence that it is NOT cholesterol or fat that cause bad arteries got him fired from and black listed and disgraced by Harvard University, in 1978 -only to be re-offered a professorship 25 years later [he graciously accepted].Four new studies about homocysteine now appear daily and a Nobel Prize for single handedly discovering, proving and popularizing such toxic player and risk-factor in health should be in the works.. He now shares that life-long body of wisdom with the public. The good news is that ANYONE can lower his/her homocysteine with a high strength multi-B vitamin pill, the only therapy. Easy to read and well edited, this is the FIRST book you should read, and as a bonus, it will make you feel better about cholesterol.Heh, any heart-health book with a high nutrient but high cholesterol recipe for chicken-liver spread with egg and butter deserves notice. Not only that -McCully was as right then as he is now, it is a lack of micronutrients that is so dangerous, and this includes omega-3 oil and the '"B" healthy' B vitamins.This book is as vital for your doctor or cardiologist and buying them a copy too may be one of the smartest things you could do. Their life is a hard one with the drug-interests dominating much of the landscape. They should appreciate scientifically sound data about non-toxic non-drug nutritional prevention options, and it is here that Dr. McCully filled in much of the puzzle picture.I add my voice to the very first reviewer, Dr. Willett, Chair of Harvard's Nutrition Department, in warmly recommending this important yet easy to read book, Eddie Vos Sutton Qc Canada www.health-heart.org E-mail: vos@health-heart.org

Interesting expose of the cholesterol fallacy

Along with Ravnskov's "Cholesterol Myths" I would rate this as vital reading for anyone interested in their health. It's books like these that have convinced me to take my health into my own hands and largely ignore doctors, governments, the food industry and others who have vested interests and reputations riding on the back of the failed Lipid Hypothesis. McCully is one of those who has dared to oppose the "Cholesterol Police". His description of how he was treated, despite having conclusive evidence, angered and shocked me. It illustrates clearly that many so called scientists are not following the Scientific Method at all. They need to remember that you don't do experiements to prove your favourite theory is right, but to expose the truth, no matter what that turns out to be.Ignore the reader from Columbia, MD USA. High blood cholesterol has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with causing heart disease (see Ravnskov). People with low levels are just as likely to get CHD as those with elevated cholesterol. However, heart disease patients have high levels because Cholesterol repairs damage to the body - other factors (Homocystene, Lp(a), free radicals and so on) are the real cause, so the body attempts a repair by increasing cholesterol levels. So a high blood level is just a symptom, not the cause.

Excellent

I highly recommend this book. I'm not in the medical field, but I am a scientist so I appreciated that this text was not "dumbed down" too much. Obviously it doesn't give the detail that a purely scientific text would, but it provides enough information and references so you can check out the fundamental research.

This book could save your life.

For the past few decades we have been told a dogma that has recently been shown by research to be not true: that the major cause of heart disease is cholesterol. Because of this erroneous dogma, many Americans have significantly reduced their consumption of healthy foods -- such as eggs -- simply because they contain cholesterol, and eaten unhealthy foods rich in sugar because they don't contain cholesterol. The surprising truth is that cholesterol is not a bad substance to be avoided but rather is an important biochemical which is essential for human health. Cholesterol is so essential that our bodies actually manufacture it; in fact, humans typically manufacture 3 to 4 times more cholesterol than we get from food. Well, if cholesterol is not the cause of heart disease, what is? The answer is that the two major causes of the arterial blockage which can lead to heart attacks are free radicals (which can be combatted by antioxidants such as vitamin C, Vitamin E, and selenium) and homocysteine. Homocysteine is a natural substance which is formed from metabolism of the amino acid methionine. Vitamins B6, B12, and folic acid can keep the concentration of homocysteine in our bodies low enough to be safe. But if we are deficienct in these essential vitamins -- as many people are -- the level of homocysteine in our blood rises dangerously and can induce the formation of arterial plaque which blocks the arteries and leads to heart attacks. High levels of homocysteine are far more dangerous than high cholesterol levels. In this book the man who discovered this fact, Dr. Kilmer McCully, discusses in readable terms the importance of keeping homocysteine levels low and dispells the myth that foods containing cholesterol -- many of which are quite good for us -- are dangerous. You need to know and understand this new paradigm if you want to preserve your health and protect yourself from heart attacks. As a research chemist, I can't recommend this important book too highly.

Clear presentation of ESSENTIAL new scientific findings.

Dr. McCully has written, in simple prose, an easily understood summary of his years of original research. His perseverence in the face of hostility and underhanded back-biting has been amazing. And the results can help us all. Several years ago, I was at a scientific meeting at which the data on cholesterol were reviewed: it turns out that the medical establishment forgot, in its misbegotten war on cholesterol, that it has a crucial function in neurotransmitter synthesis. Lowering cholesterol below YOUR personal set-point will lower serotonin, increasing depression, accident rates, and weakening impulse control. So the case is even stronger than Dr. McCully indicates. Read his book -- and eat wisely.