A documentary expose of how pharmaceutical companies create demand for…
Cholesterol, the Great Bluff
 
									- Description
- Reviews
- Citation
- Cataloging
- Transcript
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For more than six decades, doctors, nutritionists, and public health officials have been waging a war against high cholesterol in an effort to fight heart disease. It’s a war that has seen the demonization of saturated fats, the rise and fall of hydrogenated oils, and the introduction of several generations of “miracle” drugs.
But what if the basic premise linking cholesterol and heart disease is wrong?
CHOLESTEROL, THE GREAT BLUFF convincingly argues that the link between cholesterol and heart disease is tenuous – and that its persistence results from a potent mix of bad science, entrenched interests, and pharmaceutical profits.
The problems date from the earliest days of the cholesterol hypothesis, first proposed by physiologist Ancel Keys, who proposed that a diet high in saturated fight leads to cardiovascular disease. GP and medical journalist Dominique Dupagne cites evidence that Keys cherry-picked his data. But it was too late. Americans were trying to understand what lay behind the soaring rate of heart attacks, and fat seemed like the perfect villain. Once saturated fats were to blame, heavily industrialized products such as "pure vegetable shortening"—the result of a process including emulsification, bleaching, and steam-cleaning—come to be seen as healthier foods.
As the film makes clear, researchers who made any serious attempt to study other hypotheses—that sugar led to vascular disease, for instance—found themselves threatened, their research funding cut and their careers derailed.
CHOLESTEROL, THE GREAT BLUFF deploys an array of authoritative and engaging experts to attack the foundations of the cholesterol hypothesis. Author and nutritionist Sylvain Duval uses markers and easy-to-understand analogies to explain the mechanisms of how cholesterol works and how the body uses different fats. Investigative journalist Nina Teicholz lays out how Keys came to demonize cholesterol, and details the intimidation faced by those who sought alternatives. Cardiologist and nutritionist Michel de Lorgeril, who did the first study on the benefits of the Mediterranean diet, is scathing in his views on the pharmaceutical industry’s complicity in propagating faulty research, including the studies that led to the widespread adoption of statins. The film also hears from an array of other researchers, physicians, and writers who, among other things, question the notion of "good" and "bad" cholesterol.
Peppered throughout are vintage and recent clips from advertising (including Tom & Jerry pushing margarine), sponsored films, and newscasts blaring the latest cholesterol breakthroughs.
"Clear and pointed." —Télérama
"An explosive investigation." —Films & Documentaires.com
 
"Exposes and denies all of the accepted ideas about cholesterol. The results are as fascinating as they are surprising." —Télé-Loisirs
"Not to be missed!" —Thierry Souccar Editions
Citation
Main credits
								Georget, Anne (film director)
							
Other credits
Image & sound, Olivier Raffet, Scott Sinkler; editing, Valérie Salvy.
Distributor subjects
Aging; Biology; Cholesterol; Culture; Ethics; Health Issues; Media; Politics; ScienceKeywords
WEBVTT
 
 00:00:00.125 --> 00:00:09.500
 ♪
 
 00:00:09.500 --> 00:00:13.041
 ♪ Are the stars out tonight ♪
 
 00:00:13.041 --> 00:00:17.417
 ♪ I don\'t know
 if it\'s cloudy or bright ♪
 
 00:00:17.417 --> 00:00:24.417
 ♪\'Cause I only have eyes
 for you ♪
 
 00:00:25.625 --> 00:00:26.667
 ♪ Dear ♪
 
 00:00:26.667 --> 00:00:28.458
 ♪ The moon ♪
 
 00:00:28.458 --> 00:00:32.166
 This American advert
 for an anti-cholesterol drug
 
 00:00:32.166 --> 00:00:36.458
 tells us that an insidious evil
 can eat away at us,
 
 00:00:36.458 --> 00:00:38.792
 even if we feel healthy.
 
 00:00:38.792 --> 00:00:39.959
 For the last 60 years,
 
 00:00:39.959 --> 00:00:41.667
 cholesterol
 has been the subject
 
 00:00:41.667 --> 00:00:43.542
 of fierce scientific disputes
 
 00:00:43.542 --> 00:00:45.458
 and huge industrial revenue.
 
 00:00:45.458 --> 00:00:48.125
 Which arguments
 and which influences
 
 00:00:48.125 --> 00:00:49.917
 lead us to believe
 that cholesterol
 
 00:00:49.917 --> 00:00:52.250
 has a harmful effect
 on our arteries?
 
 00:00:52.250 --> 00:00:55.000
 How has cholesterol earned
 itself a negative reputation
 
 00:00:55.000 --> 00:00:59.625
 when it\'s a substance that
 is essential for our survival?
 
 00:00:59.625 --> 00:01:00.583
 ♪
 
 00:01:00.583 --> 00:01:02.291
 ♪ You are ♪
 
 00:01:02.291 --> 00:01:04.250
 The story we want
 to tell you today
 
 00:01:04.250 --> 00:01:06.917
 is really sort of
 a detective story
 
 00:01:06.917 --> 00:01:09.750
 and it has a complicated plot.
 
 00:01:09.750 --> 00:01:12.166
 The killer
 is cardiovascular disease.
 
 00:01:12.166 --> 00:01:14.417
 Heart failure,
 as some of us call it.
 
 00:01:14.417 --> 00:01:17.041
 The victims
 or potential victims
 
 00:01:17.041 --> 00:01:17.999
 are you and me.
 
 00:01:17.999 --> 00:01:20.000
 And the detectives
 are a team of scientists
 
 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:22.709
 operating at
 the University of Minnesota.
 
 00:01:22.709 --> 00:01:24.000
 The facts are simple.
 
 00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:25.999
 You know the chief killer
 of Americans
 
 00:01:25.999 --> 00:01:27.291
 is cardiovascular disease.
 
 00:01:27.291 --> 00:01:31.083
 Disorders and degeneration
 of the heart and blood vessels.
 
 00:01:31.083 --> 00:01:35.875
 Of ten men, we can expect
 five to get it.
 
 00:01:39.000 --> 00:01:40.458
 In the 1950s,
 
 00:01:40.458 --> 00:01:42.166
 there had been
 this rising tide
 
 00:01:42.166 --> 00:01:44.917
 of heart attacks,
 of heart disease.
 
 00:01:44.917 --> 00:01:49.083
 Middle-aged men were having
 heart attacks in their prime
 
 00:01:49.083 --> 00:01:51.709
 and there was a real sense
 of panic in the country.
 
 00:01:51.709 --> 00:01:53.792
 I mean, these are men
 whose fathers
 
 00:01:53.792 --> 00:01:55.999
 had not had
 heart attacks.
 
 00:01:55.999 --> 00:01:57.125
 It was a new phenomenon
 for people.
 
 00:01:57.125 --> 00:02:00.667
 In 1955, President Eisenhower
 himself had a heart attack
 
 00:02:00.667 --> 00:02:02.959
 and was out of the Oval Office
 for ten days.
 
 00:02:02.959 --> 00:02:06.250
 You can imagine the panic
 of the entire nation.
 
 00:02:06.250 --> 00:02:07.999
 The eyes of the nation
 and the world
 
 00:02:07.999 --> 00:02:11.375
 were focused on Fitzsimons
 Army Hospital in Denver,
 
 00:02:11.375 --> 00:02:12.542
 where Major John Eisenhower
 
 00:02:12.542 --> 00:02:15.041
 and White House Press Secretary
 James Hagerty
 
 00:02:15.041 --> 00:02:16.083
 arrived during
 the first hours
 
 00:02:16.083 --> 00:02:19.125
 after word that President
 Dwight D. Eisenhower
 
 00:02:19.125 --> 00:02:20.583
 had suffered
 a heart attack.
 
 00:02:20.583 --> 00:02:23.208
 Boston specialist
 Dr. Paul Dudley White,
 
 00:02:23.208 --> 00:02:24.125
 arriving with Mr. Hagerty,
 
 00:02:24.125 --> 00:02:27.709
 described tissue injury
 to an anterior heart wall
 
 00:02:27.709 --> 00:02:29.959
 as a moderate attack.
 
 00:02:58.333 --> 00:03:02.500
 And there was a sense
 of crisis, urgency,
 
 00:03:02.500 --> 00:03:05.625
 about finding out
 what caused heart disease.
 
 00:03:05.625 --> 00:03:06.959
 And there were a number
 of ideas about it.
 
 00:03:06.959 --> 00:03:09.834
 One was it might be
 vitamin deficiency,
 
 00:03:09.834 --> 00:03:11.917
 maybe it was auto exhaust.
 
 00:03:11.917 --> 00:03:13.208
 You know, there were
 a number of ideas,
 
 00:03:13.208 --> 00:03:17.125
 but there was one idea
 proposed by Ancel Keys,
 
 00:03:17.125 --> 00:03:19.709
 who was a researcher at
 the University of Minnesota,
 
 00:03:19.709 --> 00:03:20.542
 he was a pathologist,
 
 00:03:20.542 --> 00:03:23.166
 and it was his idea
 that it was saturated fats
 
 00:03:23.166 --> 00:03:24.083
 that caused heart disease.
 
 00:03:24.083 --> 00:03:26.709
 Saturated fats would cause
 your total cholesterol to go up,
 
 00:03:26.709 --> 00:03:29.417
 which was the only thing they
 could measure in those days,
 
 00:03:29.417 --> 00:03:31.999
 and that would
 clog your arteries
 
 00:03:31.999 --> 00:03:33.000
 and give you
 a heart attack.
 
 00:03:33.000 --> 00:03:36.125
 It was called
 the diet-heart hypothesis.
 
 00:03:37.125 --> 00:03:39.625
 Here are vital statistics.
 
 00:03:39.959 --> 00:03:42.750
 They show that this problem
 here in America
 
 00:03:42.750 --> 00:03:44.542
 is the worst in the world.
 
 00:03:44.542 --> 00:03:48.208
 Probably our mode of life
 and our diet are involved.
 
 00:03:48.208 --> 00:03:52.125
 But the trouble is we just
 don\'t know enough about it.
 
 00:03:52.125 --> 00:03:54.792
 It strikes without warning,
 but we can\'t say...
 
 00:03:54.792 --> 00:03:58.625
 When President Eisenhower
 had a heart attack,
 
 00:03:58.625 --> 00:04:00.000
 Keys came to the fore
 
 00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:04.500
 because this doctor
 who was flown in
 
 00:04:04.500 --> 00:04:07.083
 to treat Eisenhower,
 
 00:04:07.083 --> 00:04:10.166
 immediately put him
 on a low-fat diet,
 
 00:04:10.166 --> 00:04:12.500
 said it was his diet
 
 00:04:12.500 --> 00:04:14.125
 that had caused
 the heart attack,
 
 00:04:14.125 --> 00:04:17.959
 not the fact that he smoked
 like a chimney.
 
 00:04:17.959 --> 00:04:19.500
 You know?
 Oh no.
 
 00:04:19.500 --> 00:04:23.542
 The source of Keys\' idea
 came from this idea,
 
 00:04:23.542 --> 00:04:28.041
 there\'s a disease where you get
 fatty deposits under your skin,
 
 00:04:28.041 --> 00:04:30.041
 they\'re called xanthomas.
 
 00:04:30.041 --> 00:04:30.917
 And you can see them,
 
 00:04:30.917 --> 00:04:32.417
 people get them
 on their eyelids and...
 
 00:04:32.417 --> 00:04:37.709
 And they\'re--they have
 cholesterol in them.
 
 00:04:37.709 --> 00:04:41.458
 And so the idea was
 that same cholesterol
 
 00:04:41.458 --> 00:04:43.834
 would be inside
 your arteries.
 
 00:04:43.834 --> 00:04:45.500
 And then they would
 block your arteries.
 
 00:04:45.500 --> 00:04:47.083
 And it came
 from this cholesterol.
 
 00:04:47.083 --> 00:04:52.083
 So cholesterol was the first
 kind of evil demon.
 
 00:04:52.083 --> 00:04:54.834
 Keys provides
 this hypothesis,
 
 00:04:54.834 --> 00:04:57.458
 people start testing it,
 scientists start testing it,
 
 00:04:57.458 --> 00:05:00.083
 but simultaneously
 the research community
 
 00:05:00.083 --> 00:05:03.709
 starts talking about it
 as if it\'s probably true,
 
 00:05:03.709 --> 00:05:05.375
 it just needs to be confirmed.
 
 00:05:05.375 --> 00:05:07.583
 What they like to say is,
 
 00:05:07.583 --> 00:05:08.500
 \"We\'re trying to nail--
 
 00:05:08.500 --> 00:05:12.333
 cross the t\'s and dot the i\'s
 on the evidence.\"
 
 00:05:12.333 --> 00:05:14.999
 (projector spinning)
 
 00:05:15.333 --> 00:05:18.083
 In 1958, Ancel Keys
 launched a study
 
 00:05:18.083 --> 00:05:21.041
 on an unprecedented scale
 across seven countries,
 
 00:05:21.041 --> 00:05:24.917
 Greece, Yugoslavia, Italy,
 The Netherlands, Finland,
 
 00:05:24.917 --> 00:05:26.583
 The United States,
 and Japan.
 
 00:05:26.583 --> 00:05:28.291
 At the heart
 of these observations
 
 00:05:28.291 --> 00:05:30.875
 remained the statistical link
 between food,
 
 00:05:30.875 --> 00:05:33.458
 particularly fatty foods,
 cholesterol levels,
 
 00:05:33.458 --> 00:05:35.917
 and the risk
 of cardiovascular disease
 
 00:05:35.917 --> 00:05:37.458
 among populations.
 
 00:05:37.458 --> 00:05:40.500
 (projector spinning)
 
 00:05:40.999 --> 00:05:42.542
 A step test
 for exercise
 
 00:05:42.542 --> 00:05:44.542
 in a village
 in Central Serbia
 
 00:05:44.542 --> 00:05:46.041
 where the men had never
 ridden a bicycle,
 
 00:05:46.041 --> 00:05:50.875
 so we had to use a step test
 instead of a bicycle ergometer.
 
 00:05:50.875 --> 00:05:54.834
 This is a preparation of
 the diets that we collected.
 
 00:05:54.834 --> 00:05:56.291
 This is Margaret Keys
 who set up
 
 00:05:56.291 --> 00:06:02.667
 the cholesterol laboratories
 for these pilot studies.
 
 00:06:02.917 --> 00:06:07.583
 Examined about 12,000 men
 in 14 areas of 7 countries.
 
 00:06:07.583 --> 00:06:10.208
 (projector spinning)
 
 00:06:10.500 --> 00:06:13.083
 And we had people
 calling in from Finland
 
 00:06:13.083 --> 00:06:15.041
 saying that there were more
 heart attacks there
 
 00:06:15.041 --> 00:06:16.291
 than anywhere in the world.
 
 00:06:16.291 --> 00:06:17.667
 And we had Japanese visitors
 
 00:06:17.667 --> 00:06:18.542
 who said, \"Come see us.\"
 
 00:06:18.542 --> 00:06:21.458
 So that combination
 of circumstances.
 
 00:06:21.458 --> 00:06:24.583
 After that,
 after you choose the variation
 
 00:06:24.583 --> 00:06:28.792
 and the variables
 you\'re gonna study,
 
 00:06:28.792 --> 00:06:30.458
 it\'s entirely
 where you get cooperation,
 
 00:06:30.458 --> 00:06:34.208
 where you have the chance
 of getting in a community.
 
 00:06:34.208 --> 00:06:37.250
 (projector running)
 
 00:06:38.375 --> 00:06:40.625
 The conclusions
 of the seven-country study
 
 00:06:40.625 --> 00:06:45.375
 are that there are
 very large differences
 
 00:06:45.375 --> 00:06:49.291
 in the rate
 of heart attacks
 
 00:06:49.291 --> 00:06:51.709
 between these cultures.
 
 00:06:51.709 --> 00:06:53.792
 On the order
 of five to tenfold,
 
 00:06:53.792 --> 00:06:55.959
 which we could already find
 in five years.
 
 00:06:55.959 --> 00:06:59.000
 We found differences
 the first time we examined.
 
 00:06:59.000 --> 00:07:00.083
 We were much more sure of it.
 
 00:07:00.083 --> 00:07:01.458
 When you follow them
 five years,
 
 00:07:01.458 --> 00:07:04.500
 we were much more sure
 at ten years.
 
 00:07:05.709 --> 00:07:07.750
 There were
 remarkable differences
 
 00:07:07.750 --> 00:07:10.667
 in the distribution
 of certain cholesterol,
 
 00:07:10.667 --> 00:07:12.375
 your topic of the day.
 
 00:07:12.375 --> 00:07:14.999
 I\'m sorry I don\'t have
 the slide,
 
 00:07:14.999 --> 00:07:17.250
 but the distribution
 of cholesterol in Japan
 
 00:07:17.250 --> 00:07:18.375
 will go like this.
 
 00:07:18.375 --> 00:07:19.417
 And then Finland
 goes like this.
 
 00:07:19.417 --> 00:07:21.625
 And there\'s a tiny little
 overlap.
 
 00:07:21.625 --> 00:07:23.542
 The highest cholesterols
 in Japan
 
 00:07:23.542 --> 00:07:26.166
 barely overlap the lowest
 cholesterols in Finland.
 
 00:07:26.166 --> 00:07:28.542
 I mean, it\'s one
 of the most elegant slides
 
 00:07:28.542 --> 00:07:30.709
 and it tells you so much.
 
 00:10:13.250 --> 00:10:15.291
 It\'s a normal human instinct
 
 00:10:15.291 --> 00:10:18.500
 to see what you want
 to see, right?
 
 00:10:18.500 --> 00:10:20.125
 And then kind of
 just not see
 
 00:10:20.125 --> 00:10:21.375
 all the arguments
 to the contrary.
 
 00:10:21.375 --> 00:10:23.999
 But, of course,
 scientists are taught
 
 00:10:23.999 --> 00:10:27.041
 to fight that
 natural instinct,
 
 00:10:27.041 --> 00:10:31.583
 to rigorously test
 and distrust their own ideas.
 
 00:10:31.583 --> 00:10:35.875
 That is the training
 of a scientist.
 
 00:10:35.875 --> 00:10:37.291
 And what you see
 in this field
 
 00:10:37.291 --> 00:10:39.750
 is repeatedly that that\'s
 just simply not the case.
 
 00:10:39.750 --> 00:10:43.041
 I mean, Ancel Keys is the most
 incredible example of that,
 
 00:10:43.041 --> 00:10:44.834
 where he, you know,
 
 00:10:44.834 --> 00:10:46.667
 he says,
 
 00:10:46.667 --> 00:10:48.625
 \"I\'m right
 and I\'m waiting
 
 00:10:48.625 --> 00:10:51.583
 for the information
 to prove me wrong.\"
 
 00:10:51.583 --> 00:10:54.834
 22 years ago, the nation\'s
 first major program
 
 00:10:54.834 --> 00:10:57.917
 aimed at finding how widespread
 heart disease is,
 
 00:10:57.917 --> 00:11:00.250
 how it develops,
 and what its causes are,
 
 00:11:00.250 --> 00:11:03.625
 more than 5,000 people
 were examined regularly
 
 00:11:03.625 --> 00:11:04.417
 and the Framingham Study
 
 00:11:04.417 --> 00:11:07.333
 just renewed after producing
 remarkable results
 
 00:11:07.333 --> 00:11:10.792
 is now testing
 a second generation.
 
 00:11:44.083 --> 00:11:48.041
 For each one milligram
 per deciliter per year drop
 
 00:11:48.041 --> 00:11:49.667
 in serum cholesterol values
 
 00:11:49.667 --> 00:11:52.709
 throughout
 the 14 years\' period
 
 00:11:52.709 --> 00:11:54.500
 of cholesterol measurement,
 
 00:11:54.500 --> 00:11:57.458
 there is an 11% increase
 
 00:11:57.458 --> 00:11:59.458
 in both the overall death rate
 
 00:11:59.458 --> 00:12:03.750
 and the cardiovascular
 death rate.
 
 00:13:08.709 --> 00:13:10.417
 We think the bad cholesterols
 
 00:13:10.417 --> 00:13:11.917
 are all in part of a system
 
 00:13:11.917 --> 00:13:13.500
 that go out and deposit this
 
 00:13:13.500 --> 00:13:16.083
 in the arteries of your heart
 and the brain,
 
 00:13:16.083 --> 00:13:17.333
 all these cholesterol deposits.
 
 00:13:17.333 --> 00:13:21.458
 We think the good one goes out
 and tries to take that away
 
 00:13:21.458 --> 00:13:23.583
 and tries to undo all that.
 
 00:13:23.583 --> 00:13:25.709
 So we feel that how
 you turn out in life
 
 00:13:25.709 --> 00:13:29.999
 is the outcome of that battle
 between the good and the bad.
 
 00:16:55.625 --> 00:16:58.999
 The brain is the organ with
 the highest cholesterol content
 
 00:16:58.999 --> 00:17:00.208
 in the entire human body.
 
 00:17:00.208 --> 00:17:01.750
 But cholesterol
 produced by the liver
 
 00:17:01.750 --> 00:17:03.999
 doesn\'t pass the brain\'s
 protective barrier.
 
 00:17:03.999 --> 00:17:06.166
 Researchers are therefore
 trying to explain
 
 00:17:06.166 --> 00:17:09.333
 how the cholesterol level
 is able to stay the same
 
 00:17:09.333 --> 00:17:11.625
 within this organ.
 
 00:18:06.125 --> 00:18:09.792
 ♪
 
 00:18:09.792 --> 00:18:14.458
 Promise presents Tom and Jerry
 inButter Trouble.
 
 00:18:14.458 --> 00:18:23.125
 ♪
 
 00:18:23.125 --> 00:18:27.166
 Promise Buttery Light
 has 85% less saturated fat
 
 00:18:27.166 --> 00:18:29.333
 and no cholesterol.
 
 00:18:29.333 --> 00:18:30.083
 ♪
 
 00:18:30.083 --> 00:18:31.542
 So it\'s a better choice
 than butter
 
 00:18:31.542 --> 00:18:36.417
 to help reduce the risk
 of heart disease.
 
 00:18:36.417 --> 00:18:37.709
 ♪
 
 00:18:37.709 --> 00:18:41.875
 Are you still eating butter?
 
 00:20:09.917 --> 00:20:12.333
 The discovery
 that these vegetables oils
 
 00:20:12.333 --> 00:20:13.917
 lowered cholesterol levels
 
 00:20:13.917 --> 00:20:15.333
 then led
 to a close interlinking
 
 00:20:15.333 --> 00:20:17.750
 with research
 on cardiovascular diseases
 
 00:20:17.750 --> 00:20:20.792
 and the food industry
 began using these oils
 
 00:20:20.792 --> 00:20:23.041
 for its products.
 
 00:20:23.041 --> 00:20:23.709
 For example,
 
 00:20:23.709 --> 00:20:27.208
 in this promotional film
 by food giant Best Foods,
 
 00:20:27.208 --> 00:20:30.000
 with the prominent researcher
 Jeremiah Stamler
 
 00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:32.000
 supporting Ancel Keys
 in the need
 
 00:20:32.000 --> 00:20:35.834
 for a dramatic reduction
 in cholesterol.
 
 00:20:36.375 --> 00:20:40.000
 Cheese is a long-time
 favorite of mine,
 
 00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:40.792
 like many people.
 
 00:20:40.792 --> 00:20:44.125
 I guess that and ice cream
 are the two high-fat products
 
 00:20:44.125 --> 00:20:46.834
 that I\'ve always
 liked the most
 
 00:20:46.834 --> 00:20:50.750
 and I find it hardest
 to use self-restraint on.
 
 00:20:50.750 --> 00:20:54.333
 But we hope to have
 modified cheeses
 
 00:20:54.333 --> 00:20:56.542
 in quantity
 and of good quality.
 
 00:20:56.542 --> 00:20:57.417
 We don\'t yet.
 
 00:20:57.417 --> 00:20:58.959
 We have a few,
 
 00:20:58.959 --> 00:20:59.834
 very limited supply,
 
 00:20:59.834 --> 00:21:03.083
 and not high-quality
 in terms of taste and flavor.
 
 00:21:03.083 --> 00:21:04.667
 But the industry\'s
 working on this
 
 00:21:04.667 --> 00:21:07.041
 and I\'m sure
 if we got to the moon
 
 00:21:07.041 --> 00:21:09.999
 we can solve this problem.
 
 00:22:41.208 --> 00:22:44.375
 How do they get
 from the liquid oil
 
 00:22:44.375 --> 00:22:46.333
 that they get
 out of the seeds
 
 00:22:46.333 --> 00:22:49.208
 to a solid fat
 like butter?
 
 00:22:49.208 --> 00:22:51.792
 And it\'s quite a process.
 
 00:22:51.792 --> 00:22:53.542
 First they take the oil
 out of the seed,
 
 00:22:53.542 --> 00:22:55.083
 that\'s a very
 high-temperature process.
 
 00:22:55.083 --> 00:22:59.291
 And what comes out of the seed
 looks like black gunk.
 
 00:22:59.291 --> 00:23:02.083
 It\'s--it\'s disgusting.
 
 00:23:02.083 --> 00:23:05.917
 Then they clean it up
 a little bit.
 
 00:23:05.917 --> 00:23:07.542
 Then it goes through
 this process
 
 00:23:07.542 --> 00:23:08.709
 of partial hydrogenation.
 
 00:23:08.709 --> 00:23:10.000
 And this is how it\'s done.
 
 00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:13.750
 They mix the oil
 with powdered nickel,
 
 00:23:13.750 --> 00:23:16.500
 and it\'s put
 into a big reactor
 
 00:23:16.500 --> 00:23:19.000
 under high temperature
 and high pressure,
 
 00:23:19.000 --> 00:23:20.792
 hydrogen gas
 is bubbled through.
 
 00:23:20.792 --> 00:23:24.458
 What goes into that reactor
 is a liquid oil,
 
 00:23:24.458 --> 00:23:27.999
 what comes out
 is a semi-solid,
 
 00:23:27.999 --> 00:23:30.999
 looks like
 gray cottage cheese.
 
 00:23:30.999 --> 00:23:33.250
 So then they have
 to clean that up.
 
 00:23:33.250 --> 00:23:35.917
 They add emulsifiers
 to smooth out the lumps.
 
 00:23:35.917 --> 00:23:39.208
 They steam clean it to get rid
 of the terrible odor.
 
 00:23:39.208 --> 00:23:41.583
 And I mean this stuff
 smells horrible.
 
 00:23:41.583 --> 00:23:46.959
 And then they bleach it
 to get rid of the gray color.
 
 00:23:46.959 --> 00:23:49.583
 At that point you have
 what they call
 
 00:23:49.583 --> 00:23:50.500
 pure vegetable shortening,
 
 00:23:50.500 --> 00:23:53.834
 that\'s what\'s used
 in cookies, crackers.
 
 00:23:53.834 --> 00:24:04.041
 ♪
 
 00:24:11.417 --> 00:24:13.250
 In the 1970s,
 
 00:24:13.250 --> 00:24:14.709
 a woman named Mary Enig
 
 00:24:14.709 --> 00:24:15.583
 started looking into it
 
 00:24:15.583 --> 00:24:20.041
 and she noticed that
 trans fats paralleled--
 
 00:24:20.041 --> 00:24:21.333
 the increase
 in trans fats paralleled
 
 00:24:21.333 --> 00:24:23.834
 the increase
 in cancer rates,
 
 00:24:23.834 --> 00:24:25.375
 which is just an association,
 
 00:24:25.375 --> 00:24:26.166
 but it was observed.
 
 00:24:26.166 --> 00:24:28.291
 But even then when she started
 asking questions,
 
 00:24:28.291 --> 00:24:31.458
 she started having
 these experiences like
 
 00:24:31.458 --> 00:24:33.959
 the people from
 the vegetable oil industry
 
 00:24:33.959 --> 00:24:35.999
 would come and visit her
 in her office.
 
 00:24:35.999 --> 00:24:37.834
 The president
 of the Margarine Association
 
 00:24:37.834 --> 00:24:41.999
 came and visited her
 and told her to, you know,
 
 00:24:41.999 --> 00:24:42.917
 stop doing this research.
 
 00:24:42.917 --> 00:24:46.625
 There\'s a story she tells
 about a journal editor
 
 00:24:46.625 --> 00:24:48.291
 where she was gonna have her
 paper published,
 
 00:24:48.291 --> 00:24:50.041
 the journal editor
 receiving phone calls
 
 00:24:50.041 --> 00:24:55.333
 trying to get them to stop
 publication of the paper.
 
 00:24:55.333 --> 00:24:57.250
 I talked to people
 who were kind of inside
 
 00:24:57.250 --> 00:25:00.375
 the Institute for Shortening
 and Edible Oils,
 
 00:25:00.375 --> 00:25:02.417
 which is the Washington,
 D.C.-based association
 
 00:25:02.417 --> 00:25:06.250
 that is designed to protect
 that industry.
 
 00:25:06.250 --> 00:25:08.917
 And they have
 a scientific advisory team,
 
 00:25:08.917 --> 00:25:10.041
 and I talked
 to members of that
 
 00:25:10.041 --> 00:25:13.750
 and they confirmed
 that there was no end of tactics
 
 00:25:13.750 --> 00:25:16.166
 they would employ to try
 to defend their product.
 
 00:25:16.166 --> 00:25:18.125
 This is
 an interesting thing now,
 
 00:25:18.125 --> 00:25:19.208
 we have this here.
 
 00:25:19.208 --> 00:25:20.000
 Now the ordinary recipe,
 
 00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:22.500
 it\'s worth talking about
 how you can modify things
 
 00:25:22.500 --> 00:25:23.625
 with no trouble at all.
 
 00:25:23.625 --> 00:25:26.750
 We like waffles,
 we like flapjacks.
 
 00:25:26.750 --> 00:25:29.834
 The recipe
 calls for one egg
 
 00:25:29.834 --> 00:25:31.250
 and a half a cup of milk.
 
 00:25:31.250 --> 00:25:32.667
 We throw away the yolk.
 
 00:25:32.667 --> 00:25:33.583
 I shouldn\'t say that.
 
 00:25:33.583 --> 00:25:34.917
 We give some of the yolk
 to our dog
 
 00:25:34.917 --> 00:25:36.333
 \'cause it\'s good
 for his coat
 
 00:25:36.333 --> 00:25:37.959
 and he\'s more resistant
 than humans
 
 00:25:37.959 --> 00:25:38.959
 to hardening of the arteries.
 
 00:25:38.959 --> 00:25:40.999
 No joke, this is
 what we actually do.
 
 00:25:40.999 --> 00:25:42.583
 And we use the egg white.
 
 00:25:42.583 --> 00:25:45.750
 Instead of one egg white
 we use two.
 
 00:25:45.750 --> 00:25:51.250
 And we use oil
 instead of the egg yolk.
 
 00:25:51.250 --> 00:25:52.208
 So we up the amount of oil.
 
 00:25:52.208 --> 00:25:55.125
 Instead of two tablespoons
 we make it three.
 
 00:25:55.125 --> 00:25:56.083
 And a half a cup of milk.
 
 00:25:56.083 --> 00:25:59.041
 We make it our business
 to use skim milk
 
 00:25:59.041 --> 00:25:59.917
 instead of whole milk.
 
 00:25:59.917 --> 00:26:03.875
 People have been our guests
 for waffles, for pancakes,
 
 00:26:03.875 --> 00:26:06.208
 Saturday, Sunday morning
 for breakfast for years,
 
 00:26:06.208 --> 00:26:07.500
 nobody ever noticed
 a difference.
 
 00:26:07.500 --> 00:26:12.000
 This little book,
 Your Heart Has Nine Lives,
 
 00:26:12.000 --> 00:26:16.875
 is by Jeremiah Stamler, MD.
 
 00:26:16.875 --> 00:26:19.125
 And it was...
 
 00:26:19.125 --> 00:26:24.834
 And it was sent out
 to thousands of doctors
 
 00:26:24.834 --> 00:26:26.417
 all over the country.
 
 00:26:26.417 --> 00:26:28.208
 And here it is,
 it says,
 
 00:26:28.208 --> 00:26:30.625
 \"This special edition is
 published by Pocket Books
 
 00:26:30.625 --> 00:26:36.208
 in association with
 the Corn Products Company,\"
 
 00:26:36.208 --> 00:26:39.125
 as an advertisement
 for corn oil.
 
 00:26:39.125 --> 00:26:40.208
 And here it is
 in the back,
 
 00:26:40.208 --> 00:26:42.041
 an advertisement
 for Mazola Margarine
 
 00:26:42.041 --> 00:26:44.999
 and Mazola Corn Oil
 as part of this book.
 
 00:26:44.999 --> 00:26:48.208
 The rest of the book is
 dedicated to talking about,
 
 00:26:48.208 --> 00:26:49.500
 you know,
 science and heart attacks.
 
 00:26:49.500 --> 00:26:52.625
 Heart disease is the nation\'s
 number one--number one killer.
 
 00:26:52.625 --> 00:26:54.542
 ♪ You make me feel
 so young ♪
 
 00:26:54.542 --> 00:26:56.333
 An estimated
 60 million Americans
 
 00:26:56.333 --> 00:26:57.375
 have high serum cholesterol.
 
 00:26:57.375 --> 00:27:00.166
 ♪ You make me feel there are
 songs to be sung ♪
 
 00:27:00.166 --> 00:27:02.291
 Too much saturated fat--
 saturated fat
 
 00:27:02.291 --> 00:27:03.417
 may be bad for your heart.
 
 00:27:03.417 --> 00:27:06.500
 ♪ And every time
 I see you grin ♪
 
 00:27:06.500 --> 00:27:07.375
 Bad for you heart.
 
 00:27:07.375 --> 00:27:11.083
 ♪ I\'m such a happy individual ♪
 
 00:27:11.083 --> 00:27:11.917
 For your heart.
 
 00:27:11.917 --> 00:27:13.709
 In 1948,
 Procter and Gamble,
 
 00:27:13.709 --> 00:27:15.041
 which is a company--
 it\'s the maker
 
 00:27:15.041 --> 00:27:17.291
 of Crisco Oil
 and Vegetable Oil,
 
 00:27:17.291 --> 00:27:20.083
 they designated
 the American Heart Association
 
 00:27:20.083 --> 00:27:23.750
 as the beneficiary
 of a radio contest
 
 00:27:23.750 --> 00:27:26.291
 called the Walking Men contest.
 
 00:27:26.291 --> 00:27:27.125
 And overnight,
 
 00:27:27.125 --> 00:27:30.709
 this is in the American Heart
 Association official history,
 
 00:27:30.709 --> 00:27:33.500
 overnight they received
 millions of dollars.
 
 00:27:33.500 --> 00:27:35.333
 So over--and there\'s
 literally quotes
 
 00:27:35.333 --> 00:27:37.375
 about how
 that launched them
 
 00:27:37.375 --> 00:27:40.375
 into the national association
 that they are today,
 
 00:27:40.375 --> 00:27:43.333
 I mean, that they then
 spread offices all over,
 
 00:27:43.333 --> 00:27:45.792
 opened chapters
 all over the country.
 
 00:27:45.792 --> 00:27:49.208
 And that was, you know,
 money poured in.
 
 00:27:49.208 --> 00:27:50.667
 I mean, those are
 the literally the words
 
 00:27:50.667 --> 00:27:55.166
 in its own official story.
 
 00:27:55.166 --> 00:27:56.208
 And then,
 subsequently,
 
 00:27:56.208 --> 00:27:59.125
 the American Heart Association
 started to say
 
 00:27:59.125 --> 00:28:02.583
 that you should
 replace saturated fats
 
 00:28:02.583 --> 00:28:04.000
 with polyunsaturated fats,
 
 00:28:04.000 --> 00:28:05.959
 which are vegetable oils,
 which was, you know,
 
 00:28:05.959 --> 00:28:11.291
 a tremendous endorsement
 to a product like Crisco Oil.
 
 00:28:11.291 --> 00:28:14.500
 Betsy Jenkins\' pie
 wins first prize?
 
 00:28:14.500 --> 00:28:15.625
 But it\'s upside down.
 
 00:28:15.625 --> 00:28:18.667
 Had to show off
 my flaky bottom crust.
 
 00:28:18.667 --> 00:28:20.500
 Bottom crust?
 
 00:28:20.500 --> 00:28:21.208
 Flaky?
 
 00:28:21.208 --> 00:28:22.208
 Impossible.
 
 00:28:22.208 --> 00:28:22.875
 Not with Crisco.
 
 00:28:22.875 --> 00:28:25.792
 Crisco\'s the shortening
 that blends in easy.
 
 00:28:25.792 --> 00:28:27.500
 The American Heart Association,
 
 00:28:27.500 --> 00:28:32.208
 their role became not
 as it initially had been
 
 00:28:32.208 --> 00:28:34.500
 to raise money for research
 
 00:28:34.500 --> 00:28:36.166
 into heart disease,
 
 00:28:36.166 --> 00:28:40.500
 but to raise a consciousness
 of heart disease,
 
 00:28:40.500 --> 00:28:44.709
 which meant scaring people
 about heart disease
 
 00:28:44.709 --> 00:28:45.709
 so that they would give money
 
 00:28:45.709 --> 00:28:47.250
 to the American
 Heart Association
 
 00:28:47.250 --> 00:28:50.250
 so they could spend more money
 on scaring people
 
 00:28:50.250 --> 00:28:51.166
 about heart disease.
 
 00:28:51.166 --> 00:28:55.208
 And at the same time
 give themselves
 
 00:28:55.208 --> 00:28:58.417
 nice cushy jobs.
 
 00:28:58.417 --> 00:28:58.875
 ♪
 
 00:28:58.875 --> 00:29:00.542
 Several theories exist
 that dispute
 
 00:29:00.542 --> 00:29:02.500
 the overwhelming
 cholesterol theory.
 
 00:29:02.500 --> 00:29:04.208
 Kilmer McCully
 discovered some cases
 
 00:29:04.208 --> 00:29:07.000
 of very young children
 who died of heart attacks.
 
 00:29:07.000 --> 00:29:09.083
 Having suffered from
 a rare genetic defect,
 
 00:29:09.083 --> 00:29:11.959
 they were not able to regulate
 their vitamin B intake,
 
 00:29:11.959 --> 00:29:14.250
 which led to an excessive
 quantity of a substance
 
 00:29:14.250 --> 00:29:16.917
 called homocysteine
 within their bodies.
 
 00:29:16.917 --> 00:29:18.709
 McCully came up
 with the hypothesis
 
 00:29:18.709 --> 00:29:20.667
 that the plaques
 in the arteries grew bigger
 
 00:29:20.667 --> 00:29:23.250
 while there was
 an excess of this substance.
 
 00:29:23.250 --> 00:29:26.959
 I began to do experiments
 with animals.
 
 00:29:26.959 --> 00:29:30.792
 And what we did
 was first we injected
 
 00:29:30.792 --> 00:29:33.000
 homocysteine into rabbits
 
 00:29:33.000 --> 00:29:35.291
 and then we looked
 at the arteries.
 
 00:29:35.291 --> 00:29:37.750
 And we found that within
 two or three weeks
 
 00:29:37.750 --> 00:29:39.875
 we could see plaques
 in the arteries.
 
 00:29:39.875 --> 00:29:43.583
 Well, I can\'t tell you how
 exciting it was
 
 00:29:43.583 --> 00:29:46.542
 to see the plaques
 in the arteries.
 
 00:29:46.542 --> 00:29:49.625
 I mean, to have a theory
 
 00:29:49.625 --> 00:29:51.500
 and to try it out
 in animals
 
 00:29:51.500 --> 00:29:56.250
 and then to see it
 with your own eyes is...
 
 00:29:57.333 --> 00:30:00.542
 ...it\'s indescribable.
 
 00:30:07.999 --> 00:30:11.417
 When I published
 my first article in 1969
 
 00:30:11.417 --> 00:30:13.999
 about this observation
 in children
 
 00:30:13.999 --> 00:30:15.542
 of the homocystinuria,
 
 00:30:15.542 --> 00:30:20.917
 I was amazed that I received
 over 400 reprint requests.
 
 00:30:20.917 --> 00:30:24.250
 And I was very careful
 what I said.
 
 00:30:24.250 --> 00:30:27.667
 And what I said was I felt
 that the changes produced
 
 00:30:27.667 --> 00:30:30.792
 by homocysteine
 were the primary changes
 
 00:30:30.792 --> 00:30:34.709
 and the deposition
 of cholesterol and fats
 
 00:30:34.709 --> 00:30:38.083
 in the lesions was likely
 to be secondary.
 
 00:30:38.083 --> 00:30:44.250
 And so this did not go well
 with the cholesterol people.
 
 00:30:44.250 --> 00:30:45.333
 (laughs)
 
 00:30:45.333 --> 00:30:46.125
 ♪
 
 00:30:46.125 --> 00:30:52.166
 And I wasn\'t really prepared
 for what happened next.
 
 00:30:52.166 --> 00:30:54.291
 ♪
 
 00:30:54.291 --> 00:30:56.000
 The first thing that happened,
 
 00:30:56.000 --> 00:30:58.458
 I was put down in the basement,
 
 00:30:58.458 --> 00:31:01.333
 down with the spiders
 and the cockroaches
 
 00:31:01.333 --> 00:31:03.667
 in the basement of
 the Bulfinch Building,
 
 00:31:03.667 --> 00:31:05.500
 which was built in 1811.
 
 00:31:05.500 --> 00:31:10.291
 So here I was in a windowless,
 inadequate laboratory,
 
 00:31:10.291 --> 00:31:15.333
 and my colleagues
 saw the handwriting on the wall
 
 00:31:15.333 --> 00:31:16.917
 and were leaving
 and I was left
 
 00:31:16.917 --> 00:31:19.500
 with one technician
 and myself.
 
 00:31:19.500 --> 00:31:23.166
 And they said, \"Well,
 you have to renew your grant
 
 00:31:23.166 --> 00:31:26.000
 or we can\'t support
 your salary,
 
 00:31:26.000 --> 00:31:27.000
 you have to leave.\"
 
 00:31:27.000 --> 00:31:29.834
 And I still remember
 getting a call
 
 00:31:29.834 --> 00:31:32.375
 from the Director
 of Public Relations
 
 00:31:32.375 --> 00:31:34.458
 as Massachusetts
 General Hospital.
 
 00:31:34.458 --> 00:31:38.583
 He told me to just shut up
 and that I didn\'t--
 
 00:31:38.583 --> 00:31:41.000
 he didn\'t want
 the name McCully
 
 00:31:41.000 --> 00:31:43.000
 associated
 with the name Harvard
 
 00:31:43.000 --> 00:31:44.792
 or Massachusetts
 General Hospital
 
 00:31:44.792 --> 00:31:47.917
 at any time
 in the future.
 
 00:31:48.875 --> 00:31:52.250
 And I told my wife
 at the time that
 
 00:31:52.250 --> 00:31:55.166
 if there was something wrong
 with the theory,
 
 00:31:55.166 --> 00:31:56.667
 if this was nonsense,
 
 00:31:56.667 --> 00:31:59.750
 if there was nothing
 to this theory,
 
 00:31:59.750 --> 00:32:01.875
 nobody would care.
 
 00:32:01.875 --> 00:32:03.999
 The only reason
 that people cared
 
 00:32:03.999 --> 00:32:05.667
 was there was a threat
 to somebody
 
 00:32:05.667 --> 00:32:09.166
 or there was
 some important factors
 
 00:32:09.166 --> 00:32:12.834
 that I didn\'t understand
 that was causing this--
 
 00:32:12.834 --> 00:32:16.625
 this blackballing
 that happened to me.
 
 00:32:16.625 --> 00:32:24.417
 ♪
 
 00:32:24.583 --> 00:32:25.667
 Our Segment 3 this evening,
 
 00:32:25.667 --> 00:32:28.500
 the second in a series
 on heart attacks
 
 00:32:28.500 --> 00:32:29.583
 and what causes them.
 
 00:32:29.583 --> 00:32:31.999
 The Japanese have
 a low heart attack rate.
 
 00:32:31.999 --> 00:32:36.834
 Their diet contains little
 animal fat or cholesterol.
 
 00:32:37.458 --> 00:32:39.542
 Americans get
 many more heart attacks
 
 00:32:39.542 --> 00:32:41.542
 and they eat
 much more cholesterol.
 
 00:32:41.542 --> 00:32:43.875
 Such comparisons
 first convinced many doctors
 
 00:32:43.875 --> 00:32:46.917
 that Americans should change
 their eating habits.
 
 00:32:46.917 --> 00:32:49.542
 Dr. George Mann,
 a veteran heart researcher,
 
 00:32:49.542 --> 00:32:52.792
 says diet has nothing to do
 with heart disease.
 
 00:32:52.792 --> 00:32:54.625
 Dr. Mann points
 to his own studies
 
 00:32:54.625 --> 00:32:57.166
 with the Maasai tribe
 of Tanzania.
 
 00:32:57.166 --> 00:32:58.750
 Dr. Mann thinks
 part of the reason
 
 00:32:58.750 --> 00:33:02.041
 is that the Maasai
 get a lot of exercise.
 
 00:33:02.041 --> 00:33:03.875
 The reason that
 there is no evidence
 
 00:33:03.875 --> 00:33:06.583
 on the exercise issue
 is because we\'ve spent
 
 00:33:06.583 --> 00:33:10.166
 our money and our time
 and our people
 
 00:33:10.166 --> 00:33:15.291
 belaboring this ailing
 diet-heart hypothesis.
 
 00:33:15.291 --> 00:33:16.500
 George Mann would go,
 
 00:33:16.500 --> 00:33:18.375
 yeah, you could go to Kenya
 
 00:33:18.375 --> 00:33:21.834
 and study the warrior class
 of the Maasai
 
 00:33:21.834 --> 00:33:26.291
 that lived primarily
 on milk and blood and meat
 
 00:33:26.291 --> 00:33:27.250
 from the cattle
 they herded,
 
 00:33:27.250 --> 00:33:30.291
 and this was an extraordinarily
 high saturated fat diet
 
 00:33:30.291 --> 00:33:33.375
 and they didn\'t seem
 to get heart disease.
 
 00:33:33.375 --> 00:33:34.375
 Yeah, high cholesterol,
 
 00:33:34.375 --> 00:33:36.125
 but they didn\'t seem
 to get heart disease.
 
 00:33:36.125 --> 00:33:39.458
 He was bitter
 about his experiences.
 
 00:33:39.458 --> 00:33:40.792
 I mean, one of his stories,
 
 00:33:40.792 --> 00:33:43.083
 which doesn\'t surprise me
 because I\'ve heard
 
 00:33:43.083 --> 00:33:44.250
 this same story
 from other,
 
 00:33:44.250 --> 00:33:46.959
 in some form or another,
 from other researchers,
 
 00:33:46.959 --> 00:33:49.959
 was that he was in NIH
 
 00:33:49.959 --> 00:33:50.834
 and that NIH, you know,
 
 00:33:50.834 --> 00:33:54.750
 where he had been a researcher,
 prestigious position,
 
 00:33:54.750 --> 00:33:57.375
 and a secretary called him out
 into the hall and said,
 
 00:33:57.375 --> 00:34:00.542
 \"Dr. Mann, if you continue
 your opposition to Ancel Keys,
 
 00:34:00.542 --> 00:34:03.583
 it\'s gonna cost you
 your research grant.\"
 
 00:34:03.583 --> 00:34:06.375
 And shortly after, it did.
 
 00:34:06.375 --> 00:34:08.917
 He became more vocal
 about what he called
 
 00:34:08.917 --> 00:34:10.375
 \"the diet-heart mafia.\"
 
 00:34:10.375 --> 00:34:12.125
 You know, the group of people,
 
 00:34:12.125 --> 00:34:14.125
 Ancel Keys,
 Jeremiah Stamler,
 
 00:34:14.125 --> 00:34:15.208
 Ivan Frantz,
 you know,
 
 00:34:15.208 --> 00:34:18.583
 there just was a small
 kind of coterie of experts
 
 00:34:18.583 --> 00:34:21.375
 who seemed to control
 the whole agenda
 
 00:34:21.375 --> 00:34:22.625
 in nutrition science.
 
 00:34:22.625 --> 00:34:23.583
 They were the ones
 
 00:34:23.583 --> 00:34:25.709
 who were in command
 of the major studies,
 
 00:34:25.709 --> 00:34:28.625
 they sat on the expert panels
 at NIH,
 
 00:34:28.625 --> 00:34:30.709
 they were the ones
 who granted research funds,
 
 00:34:30.709 --> 00:34:33.792
 they did the research, they sat
 on the major editorial boards
 
 00:34:33.792 --> 00:34:36.417
 of the major journals, they
 reviewed each other\'s papers.
 
 00:34:36.417 --> 00:34:39.834
 I mean, they seemed to be,
 to George Mann,
 
 00:34:39.834 --> 00:34:41.375
 a kind of mafia.
 
 00:34:41.375 --> 00:34:44.792
 ♪
 
 00:35:00.291 --> 00:35:02.500
 Researchers noted that
 the introduction of sugar
 
 00:35:02.500 --> 00:35:06.583
 into an indigenous populations
 provoked heart diseases
 
 00:35:06.583 --> 00:35:08.166
 that had been
 hitherto unseen.
 
 00:35:08.166 --> 00:35:09.959
 Cristin Kearns
 had recently unearthed
 
 00:35:09.959 --> 00:35:12.250
 some confidential
 internal documents
 
 00:35:12.250 --> 00:35:14.250
 from the sugar industry
 which proved
 
 00:35:14.250 --> 00:35:17.417
 that this industry
 subsidized research
 
 00:35:17.417 --> 00:35:19.125
 from the 1960s onwards
 
 00:35:19.125 --> 00:35:20.709
 to divert attention away
 from sugar
 
 00:35:20.709 --> 00:35:24.500
 and make cholesterol solely
 responsible for heart disease.
 
 00:35:24.500 --> 00:35:27.625
 John Yudkin
 was a British physiologist
 
 00:35:27.625 --> 00:35:32.166
 who became very concerned
 about the connections
 
 00:35:32.166 --> 00:35:35.834
 between sugar consumption
 and heart disease.
 
 00:35:35.834 --> 00:35:39.041
 And he really became
 a spokesperson
 
 00:35:39.041 --> 00:35:40.375
 that gained attention
 in the media,
 
 00:35:40.375 --> 00:35:41.750
 that gained
 the public\'s attention
 
 00:35:41.750 --> 00:35:45.667
 about the potential dangers
 of sugar and heart disease.
 
 00:35:45.667 --> 00:35:50.792
 So, in 1964 the sugar industry
 became really concerned
 
 00:35:50.792 --> 00:35:52.500
 about the evidence
 that was emerging
 
 00:35:52.500 --> 00:35:54.083
 linking sugar
 to heart disease.
 
 00:35:54.083 --> 00:35:57.709
 So John Hickson, who was
 the Sugar Research Foundation\'s
 
 00:35:57.709 --> 00:36:00.166
 Vice President of Research,
 
 00:36:00.166 --> 00:36:02.834
 commented that there were
 flowing reports
 
 00:36:02.834 --> 00:36:05.375
 from laboratories,
 such as Yudkin\'s,
 
 00:36:05.375 --> 00:36:07.542
 linking sugar
 to heart disease,
 
 00:36:07.542 --> 00:36:11.750
 and that they needed to come up
 with a plan of action.
 
 00:36:11.750 --> 00:36:14.458
 (typing)
 
 00:36:16.917 --> 00:36:20.250
 In 1965, a series of articles
 that was published
 
 00:36:20.250 --> 00:36:21.959
 in theAnnals
 of Internal Medicine
 
 00:36:21.959 --> 00:36:24.834
 was written up in
 theNew York Herald Tribune,
 
 00:36:24.834 --> 00:36:26.083
 which was
 a major competitor
 
 00:36:26.083 --> 00:36:28.000
 ofThe New York Times
  at the time.
 
 00:36:28.000 --> 00:36:32.792
 It got a full page article
 in the Sunday edition.
 
 00:36:32.792 --> 00:36:36.333
 And the newspaper article
 was questioning
 
 00:36:36.333 --> 00:36:39.542
 whether it really was fat that
 was linked to heart disease
 
 00:36:39.542 --> 00:36:43.083
 or was it sugar that
 was linked to heart disease.
 
 00:36:43.083 --> 00:36:44.834
 And the article
 went on to say
 
 00:36:44.834 --> 00:36:46.375
 this link between sugar
 and heart disease
 
 00:36:46.375 --> 00:36:49.583
 had been theoretical
 up until this point,
 
 00:36:49.583 --> 00:36:52.458
 but this new evidence
 was really strengthening
 
 00:36:52.458 --> 00:36:55.208
 that link between sugar
 and heart disease.
 
 00:36:55.208 --> 00:36:58.458
 So as soon
 as that article came out,
 
 00:36:58.458 --> 00:37:01.999
 within a couple of days
 the sugar executives
 
 00:37:01.999 --> 00:37:06.208
 committed funding
 for Project 226.
 
 00:37:07.291 --> 00:37:11.125
 That was a commissioned
 literature review.
 
 00:37:11.125 --> 00:37:13.041
 And the industry
 was interested
 
 00:37:13.041 --> 00:37:16.542
 in having researchers
 at Harvard
 
 00:37:16.542 --> 00:37:19.834
 to collect
 the evidence
 
 00:37:19.834 --> 00:37:21.291
 linking sugar
 to heart disease
 
 00:37:21.291 --> 00:37:24.000
 and to publish a review
 that would critique
 
 00:37:24.000 --> 00:37:27.375
 all of that evidence
 to make it less likely
 
 00:37:27.375 --> 00:37:30.375
 that policy makers would
 consider that evidence
 
 00:37:30.375 --> 00:37:31.917
 when they were looking
 at the links
 
 00:37:31.917 --> 00:37:34.333
 between sugar and disease.
 
 00:37:35.834 --> 00:37:40.792
 So here they\'re corresponding
 about the drafts of the paper.
 
 00:37:40.792 --> 00:37:42.542
 And Hickson
 at the sugar industry
 
 00:37:42.542 --> 00:37:46.625
 wrote to Hegsted saying he\'d
 expected to see a draft by now
 
 00:37:46.625 --> 00:37:49.333
 and was wondering why it had
 been delayed and is saying,
 
 00:37:49.333 --> 00:37:51.917
 \"I hope you will find it
 possible to let me have a copy
 
 00:37:51.917 --> 00:37:55.291
 of the draft of the manuscript
 at an early date,\"
 
 00:37:55.291 --> 00:37:58.250
 so that he can complete
 his obligations.
 
 00:37:58.250 --> 00:37:59.625
 This is a letter
 from Hixon
 
 00:37:59.625 --> 00:38:01.417
 at the Sugar
 Research Foundation
 
 00:38:01.417 --> 00:38:02.959
 to Hegsted saying,
 
 00:38:02.959 --> 00:38:05.709
 \"Thank you very much for
 the draft of the manuscript.
 
 00:38:05.709 --> 00:38:08.083
 Let me assure you this is
 quite what we had in mind
 
 00:38:08.083 --> 00:38:10.500
 and we look forward to its
 appearance in print.\"
 
 00:38:10.500 --> 00:38:14.500
 They\'re really focused on
 does sugar cause heart disease,
 
 00:38:14.500 --> 00:38:18.458
 and they reviewed
 an enormous number of studies
 
 00:38:18.458 --> 00:38:23.417
 and picked apart
 every study one by one
 
 00:38:23.417 --> 00:38:26.959
 and pointed out
 some sort of flaw.
 
 00:38:27.542 --> 00:38:28.458
 The published article
 
 00:38:28.458 --> 00:38:30.041
 did not mention
 any funding
 
 00:38:30.041 --> 00:38:32.250
 from the Sugar
 Research Foundation.
 
 00:38:32.250 --> 00:38:35.125
 So here we have
 Harvard researchers,
 
 00:38:35.125 --> 00:38:36.667
 we have
 the highly prestigious
 
 00:38:36.667 --> 00:38:38.959
 New England
 Journal of Medicine.
 
 00:38:38.959 --> 00:38:40.750
 The sugar industry
 could not have found
 
 00:38:40.750 --> 00:38:46.959
 a more credible avenue
 to get their message out.
 
 00:39:09.083 --> 00:39:10.625
 So this is from testimony
 
 00:39:10.625 --> 00:39:13.125
 related to
 the McGovern committee
 
 00:39:13.125 --> 00:39:14.709
 in the \'70s.
 
 00:39:14.709 --> 00:39:15.999
 Senator McGovern says,
 
 00:39:15.999 --> 00:39:18.542
 \"I\'m under the impression
 that most doctors
 
 00:39:18.542 --> 00:39:20.999
 still are treating
 a high cholesterol count
 
 00:39:20.999 --> 00:39:22.917
 by calling for
 a sharp reduction
 
 00:39:22.917 --> 00:39:24.999
 in dairy product intakes
 and fats
 
 00:39:24.999 --> 00:39:27.458
 with very little emphasis
 on sugar.
 
 00:39:27.458 --> 00:39:30.125
 I take it your view is that
 the high sugar intake
 
 00:39:30.125 --> 00:39:33.709
 is more significant
 than the fat intake?\"
 
 00:39:33.709 --> 00:39:34.875
 And Dr. Yudkin replied,
 
 00:39:34.875 --> 00:39:38.083
 \"Yes, sir, I certainly
 believe that.
 
 00:39:38.083 --> 00:39:39.875
 I think that
 we were misled.
 
 00:39:39.875 --> 00:39:42.500
 I think that we have
 been pushed into a pathway
 
 00:39:42.500 --> 00:39:44.458
 that will turn out
 to be a cul-de-sac
 
 00:39:44.458 --> 00:39:47.041
 by concentrating our efforts
 and our research
 
 00:39:47.041 --> 00:39:48.999
 on measuring
 cholesterol level.
 
 00:39:48.999 --> 00:39:51.792
 I think this is
 only a small part,
 
 00:39:51.792 --> 00:39:52.583
 if a part at all,
 
 00:39:52.583 --> 00:39:54.999
 of the coronary
 heart disease story.\"
 
 00:39:54.999 --> 00:39:56.792
 Senator McGovern replied,
 
 00:39:56.792 --> 00:39:58.875
 \"If you had a patient
 where you detected
 
 00:39:58.875 --> 00:40:00.166
 a high cholesterol count,
 
 00:40:00.166 --> 00:40:02.041
 would you be more likely
 to prescribe
 
 00:40:02.041 --> 00:40:03.291
 reducing the sugar intake
 
 00:40:03.291 --> 00:40:05.375
 than reducing
 the fat intake?\"
 
 00:40:05.375 --> 00:40:07.709
 Dr. Yudkin said,
 \"That\'s right.
 
 00:40:07.709 --> 00:40:08.917
 Yes, certainly I would.\"
 
 00:40:08.917 --> 00:40:12.000
 Senator McGovern,
 \"That is exactly the opposite
 
 00:40:12.000 --> 00:40:14.667
 of what my doctor told me.\"
 
 00:40:14.667 --> 00:40:17.250
 ♪
 
 00:40:17.250 --> 00:40:18.750
 In order
 to definitively prove
 
 00:40:18.750 --> 00:40:21.291
 the role played by cholesterol
 in heart disease,
 
 00:40:21.291 --> 00:40:24.208
 despite the skepticism
 of many scientists,
 
 00:40:24.208 --> 00:40:26.417
 the National Institutes
 of Health
 
 00:40:26.417 --> 00:40:29.500
 launched the LRC in 1977,
 
 00:40:29.500 --> 00:40:30.542
 which involved
 a clinical study
 
 00:40:30.542 --> 00:40:33.834
 of 3,800 men with
 high cholesterol levels.
 
 00:40:33.834 --> 00:40:36.208
 One group was fed a diet
 low in cholesterol
 
 00:40:36.208 --> 00:40:38.333
 and received the drug
 Cholestyramine,
 
 00:40:38.333 --> 00:40:41.709
 which reduces cholesterol levels
 in the blood.
 
 00:40:41.709 --> 00:40:46.166
 ♪
 
 00:41:03.083 --> 00:41:07.000
 So it\'s very interesting because
 you have this very narrow--
 
 00:41:07.000 --> 00:41:08.000
 narrowly focused point of fact,
 
 00:41:08.000 --> 00:41:13.000
 which is middle aged men able
 to keep a rigorous discipline
 
 00:41:13.000 --> 00:41:14.917
 of consuming
 a particularly noxious drug
 
 00:41:14.917 --> 00:41:18.208
 find a very slim reduction
 in cardiovascular disease.
 
 00:41:18.208 --> 00:41:21.709
 And what\'s actually published
 out of the study
 
 00:41:21.709 --> 00:41:23.500
 is a much, much broader
 conclusion
 
 00:41:23.500 --> 00:41:26.417
 that reducing cholesterol
 will do good things
 
 00:41:26.417 --> 00:41:27.375
 for the American population
 
 00:41:27.375 --> 00:41:29.083
 and that--not only for this
 group of people,
 
 00:41:29.083 --> 00:41:32.875
 but for anybody, really,
 over the age of two.
 
 00:42:46.375 --> 00:42:48.291
 ♪
 
 00:45:15.750 --> 00:45:18.375
 The government did
 several studies
 
 00:45:18.375 --> 00:45:22.250
 and even after
 these studies came out,
 
 00:45:22.250 --> 00:45:24.542
 in which
 they purported to show
 
 00:45:24.542 --> 00:45:26.291
 that cholesterol
 caused heart disease,
 
 00:45:26.291 --> 00:45:29.166
 there were many people
 who were dissenting,
 
 00:45:29.166 --> 00:45:31.250
 many scientists
 who didn\'t agree,
 
 00:45:31.250 --> 00:45:32.750
 who were very angry.
 
 00:45:32.750 --> 00:45:33.875
 So they had
 what was called
 
 00:45:33.875 --> 00:45:35.834
 the Cholesterol
 Consensus Conference
 
 00:45:35.834 --> 00:45:39.999
 and they invited
 all the dissenters to speak.
 
 00:45:39.999 --> 00:45:41.667
 And they were allowed
 to speak,
 
 00:45:41.667 --> 00:45:43.999
 but their views
 were not published
 
 00:45:43.999 --> 00:45:45.458
 in the final report.
 
 00:45:45.458 --> 00:45:46.792
 Their names were there,
 
 00:45:46.792 --> 00:45:48.333
 but the views
 were not published.
 
 00:45:48.333 --> 00:45:51.417
 So the final report
 made it look
 
 00:45:51.417 --> 00:45:56.750
 as though all the dissenters
 had finally seen the light
 
 00:45:56.750 --> 00:45:57.375
 and they agreed,
 
 00:45:57.375 --> 00:46:00.041
 \"Yes, the cholesterol
 and saturated fat
 
 00:46:00.041 --> 00:46:01.208
 are the bad guys.\"
 
 00:46:01.208 --> 00:46:02.583
 -Oh, I\'m worried.
 -Why, honey?
 
 00:46:02.583 --> 00:46:04.500
 Those hunters haven\'t been
 around here in months.
 
 00:46:04.500 --> 00:46:07.291
 No, I\'m worried about
 your cholesterol level.
 
 00:46:07.291 --> 00:46:09.375
 I don\'t want you
 to have a heart attack.
 
 00:46:09.375 --> 00:46:10.875
 But, honey, I\'m a duck.
 
 00:46:10.875 --> 00:46:12.417
 Heredity is only part of it.
 
 00:46:12.417 --> 00:46:14.166
 You\'ve also got to watch
 what you eat,
 
 00:46:14.166 --> 00:46:16.000
 like not stuffing yourself
 with foods
 
 00:46:16.000 --> 00:46:18.333
 high in saturated fats
 and cholesterol.
 
 00:46:18.333 --> 00:46:22.166
 Watch what you eat as
 if your life depended on it.
 
 00:46:22.166 --> 00:46:23.667
 It does.
 
 00:46:23.667 --> 00:46:26.166
 And what comes out of this
 initial Consensus Conference
 
 00:46:26.166 --> 00:46:27.875
 is the founding
 of a program called
 
 00:46:27.875 --> 00:46:30.250
 the National Cholesterol
 Education Program.
 
 00:46:30.250 --> 00:46:34.166
 That that awareness campaign
 needs to be mobilized
 
 00:46:34.166 --> 00:46:36.875
 along at least
 two different groups,
 
 00:46:36.875 --> 00:46:38.917
 one of them being
 health professionals,
 
 00:46:38.917 --> 00:46:42.208
 principally physicians
 but also nurses,
 
 00:46:42.208 --> 00:46:43.917
 pharmacists,
 public health officials.
 
 00:46:43.917 --> 00:46:46.000
 And then the second
 being the general public.
 
 00:46:46.000 --> 00:46:49.750
 So that on the one hand
 there should be more screening
 
 00:46:49.750 --> 00:46:51.834
 of cholesterol
 happening in clinics
 
 00:46:51.834 --> 00:46:54.375
 to find pathologically
 high cholesterol,
 
 00:46:54.375 --> 00:46:55.834
 on the other hand
 there should be
 
 00:46:55.834 --> 00:47:00.458
 a broader sensibility
 that the everyday American
 
 00:47:00.458 --> 00:47:02.250
 would know something
 about cholesterol,
 
 00:47:02.250 --> 00:47:03.709
 would know
 their own cholesterol,
 
 00:47:03.709 --> 00:47:05.375
 would think that this
 number of cholesterol
 
 00:47:05.375 --> 00:47:08.625
 was something that
 they should identify with
 
 00:47:08.625 --> 00:47:11.125
 as part of
 their health status.
 
 00:47:38.291 --> 00:47:42.000
 Today, the Nobel Prize
 for Medicine went to two men.
 
 00:47:42.000 --> 00:47:44.583
 Doctors Michael Brown
 and Joseph Goldstein
 
 00:47:44.583 --> 00:47:46.000
 learned they were winners
 
 00:47:46.000 --> 00:47:47.000
 while attending a conference
 
 00:47:47.000 --> 00:47:49.917
 at the Massachusetts
 Institute of Technology.
 
 00:47:49.917 --> 00:47:52.834
 Working together since 1972,
 
 00:47:52.834 --> 00:47:53.917
 the molecular geneticists
 
 00:47:53.917 --> 00:47:56.041
 discovered that cells
 in the body
 
 00:47:56.041 --> 00:47:59.333
 have receptors
 which capture fatty cholesterol
 
 00:47:59.333 --> 00:48:00.125
 in the blood.
 
 00:48:00.125 --> 00:48:01.875
 The receptors move
 the cholesterol
 
 00:48:01.875 --> 00:48:04.875
 to a site which acts like
 a garbage disposal
 
 00:48:04.875 --> 00:48:08.000
 before the cholesterol
 builds up and blocks an artery.
 
 00:48:08.000 --> 00:48:09.959
 The researchers made
 their breakthrough
 
 00:48:09.959 --> 00:48:11.875
 studying patients
 like Stormy Jones
 
 00:48:11.875 --> 00:48:15.291
 who had a heart attack
 when she was just six.
 
 00:48:15.291 --> 00:48:17.667
 Stormy suffers
 from a genetic disease
 
 00:48:17.667 --> 00:48:21.083
 which causes a shortage
 of receptors.
 
 00:49:02.458 --> 00:49:05.041
 (heart beating)
 
 00:49:05.041 --> 00:49:05.542
 Sir.
 
 00:49:05.542 --> 00:49:08.458
 We have an obstruction in one
 of the main arteries.
 
 00:49:08.458 --> 00:49:11.583
 ♪
 
 00:49:11.583 --> 00:49:13.333
 Who are they?
 
 00:49:13.333 --> 00:49:15.166
 I have a lead on the suspect.
 
 00:49:15.166 --> 00:49:16.500
 He goes by Big Fat Paulie,
 
 00:49:16.500 --> 00:49:19.125
 aka LDL
 aka Bad Cholesterol.
 
 00:49:19.125 --> 00:49:21.458
 He\'s the leader
 of the Cholesterol Gang.
 
 00:49:21.458 --> 00:49:22.709
 They\'re not outsiders.
 
 00:49:22.709 --> 00:49:23.999
 They grow in the body.
 
 00:49:23.999 --> 00:49:25.250
 But when there are too many,
 
 00:49:25.250 --> 00:49:26.208
 they block the blood vessels
 
 00:49:26.208 --> 00:49:29.417
 from delivering necessary
 oxygen to the heart.
 
 00:49:29.417 --> 00:49:30.458
 ♪
 
 00:49:30.458 --> 00:49:31.333
 Should we talk to him?
 
 00:49:31.333 --> 00:49:36.583
 We don\'t negotiate
 with bad cholesterol.
 
 00:53:35.041 --> 00:53:37.667
 (applause)
 
 00:53:37.667 --> 00:53:45.709
 ♪
 
 00:53:45.709 --> 00:53:49.959
 In 1980, a Japanese researcher
 discovered a substance
 
 00:53:49.959 --> 00:53:51.834
 that lowered levels of LDL,
 
 00:53:51.834 --> 00:53:53.875
 the so-called
 bad cholesterol.
 
 00:53:53.875 --> 00:53:55.959
 That marked the birth
 of a new class of drug,
 
 00:53:55.959 --> 00:53:59.000
 statins, which inhibit
 the body\'s ability
 
 00:53:59.000 --> 00:54:00.125
 to produce cholesterol.
 
 00:54:00.125 --> 00:54:02.375
 Statins became
 the most prescribed drug
 
 00:54:02.375 --> 00:54:03.750
 after the turn
 of the century,
 
 00:54:03.750 --> 00:54:06.291
 220 million people
 around the world
 
 00:54:06.291 --> 00:54:08.709
 take prescriptions
 of them.
 
 00:54:08.709 --> 00:54:10.625
 ♪
 
 00:56:04.125 --> 00:56:09.709
 So with 85% of our clinical
 trials commercially funded,
 
 00:56:09.709 --> 00:56:14.458
 and now 97% of the most
 influential clinical trials
 
 00:56:14.458 --> 00:56:16.291
 commercially funded,
 
 00:56:16.291 --> 00:56:17.583
 what we find
 is that the odds
 
 00:56:17.583 --> 00:56:20.750
 are more than
 five times greater
 
 00:56:20.750 --> 00:56:22.417
 that commercially funded trials
 
 00:56:22.417 --> 00:56:24.583
 will conclude
 that the sponsor\'s drug
 
 00:56:24.583 --> 00:56:25.542
 is the treatment of choice
 
 00:56:25.542 --> 00:56:28.041
 compared to non-commercially
 funded trials
 
 00:56:28.041 --> 00:56:30.792
 of exactly the same drugs.
 
 00:56:31.542 --> 00:56:32.500
 Those are pretty good odds.
 
 00:56:32.500 --> 00:56:36.792
 And, you know, we tend to think
 of scientific studies
 
 00:56:36.792 --> 00:56:41.542
 as being objective
 and not being subject to bias.
 
 00:56:41.542 --> 00:56:43.750
 But what we find
 when we look
 
 00:56:43.750 --> 00:56:48.500
 at the way the system
 is structured,
 
 00:56:48.500 --> 00:56:51.917
 the companies
 sponsor the trials
 
 00:56:51.917 --> 00:56:53.875
 to help to sell
 their drugs.
 
 00:56:53.875 --> 00:56:55.709
 The companies
 own the data
 
 00:56:55.709 --> 00:56:58.542
 the same way that
 the Coca-Cola Company
 
 00:56:58.542 --> 00:57:00.875
 owns the recipe for Coke.
 
 00:58:27.667 --> 00:58:30.458
 (dishes clattering)
 
 00:58:30.458 --> 00:58:33.750
 ♪
 
 01:00:25.709 --> 01:00:27.999
 ♪
 
 01:00:27.999 --> 01:00:29.959
 In 2004, a scandal broke out
 
 01:00:29.959 --> 01:00:32.083
 over the anti-inflammatory
 Vioxx,
 
 01:00:32.083 --> 01:00:34.417
 which caused the deaths
 of 30,000 people
 
 01:00:34.417 --> 01:00:35.667
 in the United States.
 
 01:00:35.667 --> 01:00:36.625
 The legal system
 uncovered
 
 01:00:36.625 --> 01:00:37.999
 that the laboratory
 was aware
 
 01:00:37.999 --> 01:00:40.000
 of the potentially fatal
 effects of its drugs
 
 01:00:40.000 --> 01:00:43.333
 and had deliberately
 hidden them.
 
 01:00:43.333 --> 01:00:44.583
 ♪
 
 01:01:45.542 --> 01:01:47.417
 ♪
 
 01:01:47.417 --> 01:01:50.500
 Nor the doubts regarding
 the initial studies on statins
 
 01:01:50.500 --> 01:01:53.792
 nor the impossibility of
 reproducing positive results
 
 01:01:53.792 --> 01:01:57.041
 could impede the
 anti-cholesterol obsession.
 
 01:01:57.041 --> 01:01:57.875
 The dogma remained.
 
 01:01:57.875 --> 01:02:01.709
 The lower the levels,
 the better.
 
 01:03:28.709 --> 01:03:29.458
 ♪
 
 01:03:29.458 --> 01:03:30.667
 Now medical information
 comes along
 
 01:03:30.667 --> 01:03:35.083
 that says you may need to get
 that bad cholesterol even lower.
 
 01:03:35.083 --> 01:03:35.959
 ♪
 
 01:03:35.959 --> 01:03:36.834
 Now what do you do?
 
 01:03:36.834 --> 01:03:39.417
 Well, if your doctor says
 aim lower,
 
 01:03:39.417 --> 01:03:40.166
 ask about Crestor.
 
 01:03:40.166 --> 01:03:43.333
 Crestor along with diet
 can lower bad cholesterol
 
 01:03:43.333 --> 01:03:44.834
 by up to 52%.
 
 01:03:44.834 --> 01:03:46.250
 In the cholesterol guidelines,
 
 01:03:46.250 --> 01:03:50.834
 the last major revision
 was in 2001
 
 01:03:50.834 --> 01:03:53.125
 in the American
 cholesterol guidelines.
 
 01:03:53.125 --> 01:03:55.417
 Nine out of fourteen
 of the experts
 
 01:03:55.417 --> 01:03:58.750
 who were on the panel
 that set the standards
 
 01:03:58.750 --> 01:04:00.999
 had financial ties
 to the drug companies.
 
 01:04:00.999 --> 01:04:06.333
 Now this is very important
 because the 2001 guidelines
 
 01:04:06.333 --> 01:04:08.458
 almost tripled
 the number of Americans
 
 01:04:08.458 --> 01:04:10.667
 for whom statin therapy
 was recommended.
 
 01:04:10.667 --> 01:04:13.999
 The number went from
 13 million to 36 million.
 
 01:04:13.999 --> 01:04:17.333
 And most of the 23 million
 people for whom statins
 
 01:04:17.333 --> 01:04:20.125
 became recommended
 based on those guidelines
 
 01:04:20.125 --> 01:04:21.709
 did not yet
 have heart disease.
 
 01:04:21.709 --> 01:04:23.583
 You know, it\'s an odd paradox,
 right?
 
 01:04:23.583 --> 01:04:24.875
 I\'d like to take a moment
 
 01:04:24.875 --> 01:04:26.166
 to think about
 these terms we use
 
 01:04:26.166 --> 01:04:29.458
 when we talk about normal
 and pathological, right?
 
 01:04:29.458 --> 01:04:30.999
 If something\'s pathological,
 
 01:04:30.999 --> 01:04:32.500
 there\'s clearly
 a disease there,
 
 01:04:32.500 --> 01:04:35.166
 and this is easy when
 you\'re dealing with something
 
 01:04:35.166 --> 01:04:36.750
 like cholera
 or tuberculosis.
 
 01:04:36.750 --> 01:04:39.999
 It\'s characteristic lesions
 or complexes
 
 01:04:39.999 --> 01:04:41.208
 or germs that can be grown.
 
 01:04:41.208 --> 01:04:43.709
 It\'s harder when you\'re
 dealing with this continuum
 
 01:04:43.709 --> 01:04:46.542
 of some degree of fatty plaques
 being on pretty much
 
 01:04:46.542 --> 01:04:49.500
 every adult\'s inside
 of their blood vessels
 
 01:04:49.500 --> 01:04:51.125
 by the time they\'re over
 the age of 40.
 
 01:04:51.125 --> 01:04:54.709
 There\'s a big reason
 to lower high cholesterol.
 
 01:04:54.709 --> 01:04:57.792
 Dangerous plaque that can
 build up in arteries.
 
 01:04:57.792 --> 01:05:00.709
 It\'s called atherosclerosis,
 or athero,
 
 01:05:00.709 --> 01:05:03.166
 and high cholesterol
 is a major factor.
 
 01:05:03.166 --> 01:05:05.792
 But Crestor can help slow
 the buildup
 
 01:05:05.792 --> 01:05:06.917
 of plaque in arteries.
 
 01:05:06.917 --> 01:05:10.375
 Go to ArteryTour.com
 and take an interactive tour
 
 01:05:10.375 --> 01:05:13.208
 to learn how plaque builds up.
 
 01:06:58.291 --> 01:07:02.792
 By the late \'90s,
 many cardiologists will say,
 
 01:07:02.792 --> 01:07:04.041
 only half-jokingly,
 
 01:07:04.041 --> 01:07:06.417
 that stains really should be
 added to the drinking water.
 
 01:07:06.417 --> 01:07:10.000
 And it\'s a half-joke in that
 it\'s intended to be funny,
 
 01:07:10.000 --> 01:07:11.750
 and sometimes
 it produces a laugh,
 
 01:07:11.750 --> 01:07:15.125
 but behind it is
 this earnest sensibility
 
 01:07:15.125 --> 01:07:18.208
 that this is an intervention
 that is so powerful
 
 01:07:18.208 --> 01:07:22.250
 and the goal of preventing
 stroke and heart disease
 
 01:07:22.250 --> 01:07:25.125
 so worthwhile
 on a broad societal basis
 
 01:07:25.125 --> 01:07:28.500
 that even if some people
 did develop side effects
 
 01:07:28.500 --> 01:07:29.291
 and adverse effects,
 
 01:07:29.291 --> 01:07:30.583
 that it would
 still be worth it
 
 01:07:30.583 --> 01:07:31.999
 for the whole
 of the U.S. population
 
 01:07:31.999 --> 01:07:36.041
 to have this overall
 improvement in health.
 
 01:09:31.291 --> 01:09:31.999
 ♪
 
 01:09:31.999 --> 01:09:36.166
 I\'m taking the Uncle Toby\'s Oats
 Cholesterol Challenge
 
 01:09:36.166 --> 01:09:38.083
 for six weeks.
 
 01:09:38.083 --> 01:09:40.500
 ♪
 
 01:09:40.500 --> 01:09:41.834
 Because eating
 Uncle Toby\'s Oats
 
 01:09:41.834 --> 01:09:43.999
 every day as part
 of a healthy diet
 
 01:09:43.999 --> 01:09:47.125
 can help lower
 cholesterol reabsorption.
 
 01:09:47.125 --> 01:09:47.542
 ♪
 
 01:09:47.542 --> 01:09:52.250
 So join me in the Uncle Toby\'s
 Oats Cholesterol Challenge.
 
 01:09:52.250 --> 01:09:54.667
 Let\'s take it on!
 
 01:09:54.667 --> 01:09:56.542
 ♪
 
 01:11:08.375 --> 01:11:12.583
 Certain foods are high
 in saturated fat.
 
 01:11:13.333 --> 01:11:15.667
 This is the average amount
 of saturated fat
 
 01:11:15.667 --> 01:11:19.000
 a person consumes in a month.
 
 01:11:20.792 --> 01:11:22.458
 If you eat too much of this,
 
 01:11:22.458 --> 01:11:24.333
 then over time
 fatty deposits
 
 01:11:24.333 --> 01:11:25.583
 could build up
 in your arteries
 
 01:11:25.583 --> 01:11:29.375
 and this increases your risk
 of heart disease.
 
 01:11:29.375 --> 01:11:33.625
 ♪
 
 01:11:33.625 --> 01:11:36.041
 If saturated fat
 can clog this pipe,
 
 01:11:36.041 --> 01:11:39.625
 imagine what it\'s
 doing to yours.
 
 01:13:05.917 --> 01:13:08.625
 After ten years of the mass
 prescription of statins,
 
 01:13:08.625 --> 01:13:11.583
 thousands of patients complained
 of serious side effects,
 
 01:13:11.583 --> 01:13:13.000
 to the point where
 in the United States
 
 01:13:13.000 --> 01:13:16.500
 law firms started offering
 their services on television
 
 01:13:16.500 --> 01:13:19.250
 to defend these patients.
 
 01:14:08.166 --> 01:14:10.709
 We published a case series
 of 171 people
 
 01:14:10.709 --> 01:14:13.417
 with cognitive adverse effects
 on statins
 
 01:14:13.417 --> 01:14:19.166
 and some of these
 are quite compelling
 
 01:14:19.166 --> 01:14:21.041
 and troubling cases.
 
 01:14:21.041 --> 01:14:25.917
 There was one individual
 who was a retired professor
 
 01:14:25.917 --> 01:14:27.959
 in multiple
 different departments
 
 01:14:27.959 --> 01:14:29.875
 with a reported IQ
 of over 180
 
 01:14:29.875 --> 01:14:33.291
 who had actually been identified
 by two academic institutions
 
 01:14:33.291 --> 01:14:35.417
 as having the rapidly
 progressive form
 
 01:14:35.417 --> 01:14:36.458
 of Alzheimer\'s disease.
 
 01:14:36.458 --> 01:14:40.000
 And he actually went
 to a 50 year school reunion
 
 01:14:40.000 --> 01:14:41.750
 with a sign around
 his neck saying,
 
 01:14:41.750 --> 01:14:44.000
 \"My name is,
 I have Alzheimer\'s,\"
 
 01:14:44.000 --> 01:14:45.000
 so that people
 would understand
 
 01:14:45.000 --> 01:14:46.458
 why he would repeat
 the same sentence
 
 01:14:46.458 --> 01:14:48.208
 again and again
 and wouldn\'t know people,
 
 01:14:48.208 --> 01:14:51.000
 wouldn\'t recognize people
 he\'d known closely for decades.
 
 01:14:51.000 --> 01:14:52.458
 He also couldn\'t read
 more than a page of text
 
 01:14:52.458 --> 01:14:54.917
 because he wouldn\'t remember
 what he\'d read.
 
 01:14:54.917 --> 01:14:58.166
 And then his wife decided
 to stop his simvastatin
 
 01:14:58.166 --> 01:15:02.417
 and he appeared to screen
 for an experimental drug trial
 
 01:15:02.417 --> 01:15:05.625
 for Alzheimer\'s
 at another university.
 
 01:15:05.625 --> 01:15:06.999
 And they re-assessed him
 and they said,
 
 01:15:06.999 --> 01:15:08.458
 \"Not only you don\'t have
 Alzheimer\'s,
 
 01:15:08.458 --> 01:15:09.458
 you don\'t have dementia.\"
 
 01:15:09.458 --> 01:15:11.792
 And by his reckoning,
 it was about two years
 
 01:15:11.792 --> 01:15:13.583
 before he was all the way
 back to normal,
 
 01:15:13.583 --> 01:15:15.999
 but by then he was back to
 reading three newspapers a day,
 
 01:15:15.999 --> 01:15:17.709
 The New York Times,
 The Wall Street Journal,
 
 01:15:17.709 --> 01:15:20.000
 andWashington Postonline.
 
 01:16:23.959 --> 01:16:25.792
 Attention Women Who Use Lipitor.
 
 01:16:25.792 --> 01:16:27.625
 Stand by
 for an important message.
 
 01:16:27.625 --> 01:16:30.125
 A medical study in the
 Archives of Internal Medicine
 
 01:16:30.125 --> 01:16:33.291
 reported that postmenopausal
 women who used Lipitor
 
 01:16:33.291 --> 01:16:36.417
 were 48% more likely
 to develop diabetes
 
 01:16:36.417 --> 01:16:37.208
 than women who did not.
 
 01:16:37.208 --> 01:16:38.875
 If you or a loved one
 started taking Lipitor
 
 01:16:38.875 --> 01:16:43.041
 before February 2012 and were
 diagnosed with type 2 diabetes,
 
 01:16:43.041 --> 01:16:46.625
 you may be entitled
 to money damages.
 
 01:18:40.250 --> 01:18:41.542
 ♪
 
 01:18:41.542 --> 01:18:44.125
 (applause)
 
 01:18:44.125 --> 01:18:54.375
 ♪
 
 01:19:53.291 --> 01:19:55.250
 Good morning.
 You know, this is big news
 
 01:19:55.250 --> 01:19:56.917
 for people
 with high cholesterol
 
 01:19:56.917 --> 01:19:59.458
 who are on statins
 but have still not been able
 
 01:19:59.458 --> 01:20:01.709
 to lower their
 bad cholesterol enough.
 
 01:20:01.709 --> 01:20:02.500
 This new class of drugs,
 
 01:20:02.500 --> 01:20:04.583
 it works in
 an entirely different way.
 
 01:20:04.583 --> 01:20:07.500
 And the new studies show
 it can lower bad cholesterol
 
 01:20:07.500 --> 01:20:10.542
 in these people
 an additional 60%.
 
 01:20:10.542 --> 01:20:11.291
 That\'s huge.
 
 01:20:11.291 --> 01:20:13.000
 But the drug
 isn\'t for everyone.
 
 01:20:13.000 --> 01:20:14.709
 It needs to be given
 by injection
 
 01:20:14.709 --> 01:20:15.750
 every two
 to four weeks
 
 01:20:15.750 --> 01:20:19.166
 and almost 30% of the people
 in the study had to drop out.
 
 01:20:19.166 --> 01:20:20.792
 Bigger studies
 are being done now
 
 01:20:20.792 --> 01:20:22.166
 to determine
 whether these drugs
 
 01:20:22.166 --> 01:20:23.333
 truly reduce
 the risk
 
 01:20:23.333 --> 01:20:24.542
 of heart attack
 and stroke,
 
 01:20:24.542 --> 01:20:25.999
 which is really
 what we\'re after,
 
 01:20:25.999 --> 01:20:26.999
 and whether they\'re safe.
 
 01:20:26.999 --> 01:20:29.583
 However, we\'ve been talking
 to cardiologists all weekend,
 
 01:20:29.583 --> 01:20:31.750
 they\'re very excited
 about these drugs,
 
 01:20:31.750 --> 01:20:33.375
 and the FDA
 is expected to rule
 
 01:20:33.375 --> 01:20:37.625
 on an application for approval
 later this year.
 
 01:21:28.000 --> 01:21:36.291
 ♪
 
 01:21:36.291 --> 01:21:38.333
 Do you know your number?
 
 01:21:38.333 --> 01:21:39.083
 What number?
 
 01:21:39.083 --> 01:21:40.583
 Your cholesterol.
 
 01:21:40.583 --> 01:21:41.999
 I do.
 
 01:21:41.999 --> 01:21:42.999
 Uh...
 
 01:21:42.999 --> 01:21:44.834
 I had them tested forNightline.
 
 01:21:44.834 --> 01:21:46.458
 They\'re on my website.
 
 01:21:46.458 --> 01:21:47.750
 No.
 
 01:21:47.750 --> 01:21:49.500
 Don\'t have a clue.
 
 01:21:49.500 --> 01:21:50.959
 I\'m a member of a family
 
 01:21:50.959 --> 01:21:53.250
 with familial
 hypercholesterolemia,
 
 01:21:53.250 --> 01:21:57.458
 so it\'s between
 seven and eight.
 
 01:21:58.792 --> 01:22:00.041
 I don\'t know what it is now.
 
 01:22:00.041 --> 01:22:02.375
 My total cholesterol
 is 189.
 
 01:22:02.375 --> 01:22:05.041
 I wish it were a bit higher.
 
 01:22:08.750 --> 01:22:12.917
 No, I actually do not know
 my cholesterol number.
 
 01:22:12.917 --> 01:22:15.000
 One of these days.
 
 01:22:15.000 --> 01:22:17.291
 I should.
 
 01:22:17.291 --> 01:22:18.999
 Um, but I don\'t.
 
 01:22:18.999 --> 01:22:20.625
 No.
 Why should I?
 
 01:22:20.625 --> 01:22:24.291
 I don\'t think that they have
 any implications on my...
 
 01:22:24.291 --> 01:22:25.625
 (laughs)
 
 01:22:32.709 --> 01:22:36.875
 ♪
 
	