Malcolm Kendrick

Malcolm Kendrick is a GP, conspiracy theorist author, cholesterol denialist and low-carb diet advocate. He is best known for his controversial claim that high blood cholesterol does not increase the risk of heart disease.

Malcolm Kendrick holding t-shirt
Potentially edible!
Food woo
Fabulous food!
Delectable diets!
Bodacious bods!
v - t - e
“”I don't happen to think that saturated fats are in any way damaging or dangerous. If they were, they wouldn't taste so damn delicious.[note 1] Nature tends to warn us off dangerous foods by making them taste bitter and icky.
—Malcolm Kendrick[2]

Kendrick dislikes the medical community and argues against the use of statins.[3][4][5] Kendrick is associated with the pseudoscientific Institute for Natural Healing and writes articles for the RT network. He is a leading figure in the cholesterol denialist movement.

Biography

Kendrick is a GP based in Macclesfield, Cheshire.[6] He is a member of THINCS (The International Network of Cholesterol Skeptics), a fringe think tank that disputes the role of cholesterol in cardiovascular disease.[7] He is the author of The Great Cholesterol Con.

Kendrick has a few peer-reviewed papers published.[8] In 2016, Kendrick and other colleagues published a systematic review to examine how low-density lipoprotein cholesterol is associated with mortality in older adults. They concluded that "High LDL-C is inversely associated with mortality in most people over 60 years" and since "elderly people with high LDL-C live as long or longer than those with low LDL-C, our analysis provides reason to question the validity of the cholesterol hypothesis."[9] The review was criticized for cherry picking data and confirmation bias. Nine of the authors are members of THINCS. The National Health Service website observes that "the review searched only a single literature database, excluded studies only available in non-English language, and excluded studies where the title and abstract did not appear to contain information on the link between LDL and mortality in older adults."[10] Medical experts rejected the review's suggestions. Professor Jeremy Pearson Associate Medical Director of the British Heart Foundation commented that "there is nothing in the current paper to support the authors' suggestions that the studies they reviewed cast doubt on the idea that LDL cholesterol is a major cause of heart disease or that guidelines on LDL reduction in the elderly need re-evaluating."[11][12]

Kendrick sits on the Medical Advisory Board for the Institute for Natural Healing (INH), a pseudoscientific cancer woo organization.[13] The website advertises unproven cancer cures and promotes dubious vitamin and mineral supplements.[14][15] According to the INH "Natural treatments—even cures—for cancer are all around us. They’re readily available to those who know about them. But they’re actively hidden by Big Pharma, the FDA, and mainstream medicine."[16]

Kendrick endorses a low-carb, high-fat diet (LCHF). He has defended the Atkins diet.[17]

Far-out claims
Some dare call it
Conspiracy
What THEY don't want
you to know!
Sheeple wakers
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“”Medical scientists (an oxymoron if ever there was one), have a long and distinguished history of grabbing entirely the wrong end of the stick, closing their eyes tightly shut, holding on grimly and refusing to listen to anybody else.
—Malcolm Kendrick medical scientist hater[18]

According to Kendrick:[19]

  • A high-fat diet has no impact on blood cholesterol levels.
  • High-cholesterol levels do not cause or increase the risk of heart disease.
  • Statins do not protect against heart disease by lowing cholesterol levels.
  • The protection provided by statins is so small it is not worth bothering with.
  • Statins have many negative side effects, including death and creation of deformed babies.
  • All medical experts should be ignored as they are paid large sums of money from statin manufacturers.
  • The only expert that should be listened to is Malcolm Kendrick.

In The Great Cholesterol Con (2008), he argues the above claims, but fails to back this up with reliable scientific evidence. It has an irresponsible chapter titled "Eat whatever you like (Diet has nothing to do with heart disease)". Kendrick is not a dietician and lacks education in nutrition. The book makes the following arrogant statement in regard to the above claims:

You may not think it now. But by the time you have read this book, you will be convinced that I am right, and everyone else is wrong.[20]

So the entire medical community is wrong and Kendrick is right.Do You Believe That?

Kendrick continues his crusade against medical scientists in his book A Statin Nation: Damaging Millions in a Brave New Post-Health World (2018). Contrary to what Kendrick has written, clinical and genetic studies have revealed that high blood cholesterol levels increase the risk of heart disease.[21][22] Harriet Hall has written that Kendrick and others from THINCS "cherry-pick the scientific literature to find studies that support their theses, ignore the flaws in those studies, and ignore the vast body of literature that contradicts them."[7]

Conspiracy theories

Kendrick's personal blog and books are filled with Big Pharma and government conspiracy theories. He also thinks a group of vegan activists deleted his Wikipedia article and are targeting other high-fat advocates.[23][24]

He claims anyone that promotes a high fat low carbohydrate diet is somehow "silenced" around the world.[23][25]

Kendrick has found a home as a contributor to the English language website of the Russian RT television network, which is not a great surprise.[26][27]

Views on COVID-19

Kendrick dislikes the UK lock-down for the 2019-20 COVID-19 outbreak and has argued it will cause significantly more deaths.[26][28]

Selected publications
  • The Great Cholesterol Con: The Truth About What Really Causes Heart Disease and How to Avoid It (2008)
  • Doctoring Data: How to Sort Out Medical Advice from Medical Nonsense (2015)
  • A Statin Nation - Damaging Millions in a Brave New Post-Health World (2018)
gollark: I can kind of translate *basic* Latin and Ancient Greek.
gollark: English *possibly* more so.
gollark: Most languages are that way.
gollark: r/weirdvaguelyracistsoundingthings
gollark: https://xkcd.com/1210

See also

Notes
  1. This is erroneous because for example, the mushroom Amanita phalloides is delicious but often deadly.[1]

References
  1. The world’s most dangerous mushroom and what it did to an 18-month-old girl by Avi Selk (June 3, 2017 at 12:33 PM) The Washington Post.
  2. The Great Cholesterol Con
  3. Statins aren't a wonder drug by Malcolm Kendrick
  4. Should women be offered cholesterol lowering drugs to prevent cardiovascular disease? No. "Not only do statins fail to provide any overall health benefit in women, they represent a massive financial drain on health services".
  5. The deadly propaganda of the statin deniers: The drugs DO protect you from heart attacks but as this devastating investigation reveals thousands are refusing them
  6. The Great Cholesterol Con by Malcolm Kendrick
  7. Statin Denialism
  8. Research Gate list of publications for Malcolm Kendrick
  9. Kendrick, M. et al. "Lack of an association or an inverse association between low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol and mortality in the elderly: a systematic review".
  10. "Study says there's no link between cholesterol and heart disease"
  11. "Flawed cholesterol study makes headlines"
  12. "Expert reaction to systematic review reporting lack of an association between LDL cholesterol and mortality in the elderly".
  13. Meet the INH Medical Advisory Board
  14. The Institute for Natural Healing
  15. Better Than Chemo, or a Modern Snake Oil Sale?
  16. What Natural Cancer Cures Are “They” Keeping From You?
  17. Why the Atkins Diet is Healthy by Malcolm Kendrick
  18. The Great Cholesterol Con
  19. The Great Cholesterol Con
  20. The Great Cholesterol Con
  21. Low-density lipoproteins cause atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. 1. Evidence from genetic, epidemiologic, and clinical studies. A consensus statement from the European Atherosclerosis Society Consensus Panel
  22. High Cholesterol
  23. Wikipedia a parable for our times
  24. The discussion on deleting the Wikipedia Malcolm Kendrick article
  25. Those who promote a high fat low carbohydrate diet are silenced around the world
  26. As a GP, I fear our Covid-19 lockdown will result in significantly more deaths than we are trying to prevent
  27. Remember how public health COLLAPSED after Soviet Union fell? I fear West will see same due to post-lockdown economic CATASTROPHE
  28. The UK govt needs to start telling us the truth on Covid-19; lockdown is NOT a way of beating the virus
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