Tuesday, August 18, 2015

100% of what I learned in medical school was wrong...

I remember when I graduated from medical school, the dean told our class, “What we have just taught you was the most up-to-date information about medicine.

Unfortunately, 50% of what we taught you was wrong. Your job is to figure out which 50% was wrong.”

I remember feeling stunned at the Dean’s admission. Now, 26 years later, I think the dean was too conservative. Now I feel that approximately 75% of what I was taught was wrong.

In my training, I was taught that high cholesterol was a risk factor for heart disease. Furthermore, I was taught that a high triglyceride level was also a risk factor for heart disease. It was drilled into every medical student’s head that a lower cholesterol was always better than a higher one.

Folks, what I was taught about cholesterol was 100% wrong. What I was not taught was that approximately 50% of people who suffer heart attacks have normal cholesterol levels.

Furthermore, I was not taught that a higher cholesterol level was predictive of a longer life span in the elderly. Nor was I taught that lowering cholesterol levels with cholesterol-lowering medications fails well over 97% of the patients who takes them. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. Flawed science triggers U-turn on cholesterol fears...
  2. Cholesterol isn't quite as bad as you've been told...
  3. "Settled" science was totally wrong yet again: Cholesterol in foods does not...
  4. The great cholesterol myth...
  5. Cholesterol is your friend, not your enemy...
  6. The evidence for low-fat diets isn't really there...
  7. The health benefits of eggs • perfect sources of protein and choline...

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