Whilst my forthcoming book, Use Your Head, Heal Your Heart, is a summary of trials and data from many sources, I am often asked to suggest books that give an in-depth understanding of the detail behind some of the concepts and history of evidence relating to heart health.
This is particularly relevant when people are trying to change long-held false beliefs, but feel anchored to their old perceptions of what is right and what is wrong. They need to fully understand the subject before being able to change their deeply ingrained perspective.
Here are some of the best books to inform one of the development and progression of heart disease, the history of studies and analysis that has led to some of the current misconceptions, and some detailed information and factual content about what are the main factors in maintaining great heart health.
Why We Get Sick - Benjamin Bikman
This book is a very simple introduction to insulin resistance, and the development of many modern chronic diseases.
In easy to understand language, Ben explains the relationship between insulin management and the development of heart disease, cancer, dementia and Alzheimer's disease.
The Big Fat Surprise - Nina Teicholz
I would only recommend reading this if you want to go deep into the history of why we currently have the misguided belief that saturated fat is bad, red meat is bad, cholesterol is bad and grains and vegetables are healthy.
Nina dispels these beliefs with an impressive array of reference material from clinical trials and epidemiological studies, as well as the last 70 years of politics and corporate lobbying.
The Great Cholesterol Con - Malcolm Kendrick
Malcolm Kendrick exposes the truth behind the hype, revealing that high cholesterol levels don't cause heart disease; a high-fat diet - saturated or otherwise - does not affect blood cholesterol levels; and, that the results provided by statins are so small, and the risks so great as to make them essentially redundant.
Pure, White & Deadly - Jonathan Yudkin
Jonathan Yudkin was an expert on metabolic health back in the middle of the last century, and his career was effectively ended, when big US institutions put their weight and money behind the self-serving political and financial gains from Big Pharma, Big Sugar and the various vested interests that are responsible for our very incorrect view on what is healthy.
This book explores the concepts that he raised at the time, and the evidence that he had gained to support sugar, and not saturated fat, being the primary driver of chronic diseases, particularly heart disease.
The clinical trials and evidence widely available to the public now, proves that Yudkin was right all along.
The Case Against Sugar - Gary Taubes
This is a great book. It looks to explore the history and evidence relating to what is the principle cause of chronic deiseases of civilisation, such as heart disease, diabetes, strokes, dementia and Alzheimer's disease.
Along with "Why We Get Sick", this books conclusions all place sugar at the scene of the crime....which Taubes puts squarely in the dock ready for sentencing.
The Great Cholesterol Myth - Johnny Bowden & Stephen Sinatra
This book explains in detail what cholesterol is, why we need it, why it has been so dangerously vilified, and what really leads to heart disease.
Doctoring Data - Malcolm Kendrick
Kendrick takes a scalpel to the world of medical research and dissects it for your inspection. He reveals the tricks that are played to make minute risk look enormous. How the drug trials are hyped, the data manipulated, the endless games that are played to scare us into doing what, in many cases, makes the most money. After reading this book you will know what to believe and what to ignore. You'll have a much greater understanding of the world of medical research.
A Statin Nation - Malcolm Kendrick
If you have been told that you must take statins or risk a devastating heart attack or stroke, you need to read this book. Dr Kendrick, a well-known statin sceptic , has returned to the diet-heart-cholesterol battlefield to warn that people are being conned.
Statins Toxic Side Effects - David Evans
This book uses evidence from 500 scientific papers that show, incontrovertibly, that statins not only do not improve health but cause actual harm and should be avoided.
The Dark Side of Statins - Duane Graveline
The final chapter is a first-hand account of Dr Graveline's last weeks and days and the official causes of his death.
The full range of statin side effects including cognitive dysfunction, behavioral and emotional disorders, chronic nerve and muscle damage and an ALS-like neuromuscular degenerative process, are discussed in the book.