As the title indicates, Anne Georget’s documentary challenges the assumption common in medical circles that high levels of LDL cholesterol are the major factor in cardiovascular disease, which she believes has led doctors to overprescribe statins—a practice that drug companies happily encourage in order to keep profits high. She traces the origin of current theory to the prevalence of heart disease in the 1950s, focusing in particular on the heart attack that President Eisenhower suffered in 1955, which fostered a change in diet, especially a reduction in the consumption of fatty foods, to reduce risk. This led to the development and heavy promotion of low-fat food alternatives, and eventually the wide use of statins as a preventative medicine. Georget marshals an array of experts—many French, some American—who cite studies undermining the notion that high "bad" cholesterol is the main factor behind cardiovascular disease. Included as an extra, Georget’s companion film Branding Illness expands on The Great Bluff by arguing that pharmaceutical companies are not really in the business of making medicines to treat actual illnesses, but instead use advertising to publicize the widespread existence of nebulous "conditions" in order to encourage people to seek out relief—which their products promise to provide. For American audiences the ideas that Georget presents, which run counter to medical orthodoxy, will be provocative, but her experts—who include doctors and researchers as well as journalists and academics—deserve a hearing. A strong optional purchase. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)
Cholesterol: The Great Bluff
(2016) 82 min. In French & English w/English subtitles. DVD: $29.98 ($390 w/PPR from www.icarusfilms.com). Icarus Films Home Video (available from most distributors). Closed captioned. Volume 33, Issue 6
Cholesterol: The Great Bluff
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