The 8-Week Cholesterol Cure: How to Lower Your Blood Cholesterol by Up to 40 Percent Without Drugs or Deprivation

Claiming that the popular cholesterol-reducing diets are severely restrictive, yield unremarkable results or prescribe drugs that produce adverse side effects, Kowalski, a medical journalist who suffers from heart disease, developed a palatable alternative, which, he asserts, reduced the cholesterol level in his bloodstream by 40% in a short period of time. His program combines a modified diet (red meat is allowed in moderation), and daily doses of oat bran and the B-vitamin niacin. Kowalski elucidates the complex terminology of cholesterol and other bloodstream lipids, and aptly demonstrates how oat bran and niacin lower cholesterol and, in turn, that cholesterol lowering can be instrumental in reducing the incidence of heart disease. Roundups of foods least likely to bring about a cholesterol excess, as well as those with special properties that lower cholesterol, are particularly helpful, as are suggestions for substituting oat bran in traditional recipes. (March)