Statin Nation Book Cover Statin Nation
Justin Smith
Chelsea Green Publishing

Health is an industry and pharmaceutical companies run a highly profitable business. That profit depends on what Justin Smith, the writer of Statin Nation calls ‘disease mongering’ — keeping individuals in a state of anxiety about their future ill-health and exploiting their fear of death. Going through this book will make the readers think twice before taking statin drugs and help them to improve their cardiac and general health by means other than medicines — food and nutrition, exercise and meditation.

Statin Nation contains a thorough review of the statin drugs and their effect, analyses the factors that cause cardiac disease and suggests ways to avoid them. It will guide the readers to the path of healthy eating and healthy lifestyle. But it does more. It will provide you with a clear vision  and help you to understand how the pharmaceutical companies and clinical trials are run and how the drug companies and health authorities induce people to take medicines that they do not need and thus convert healthy people into patients.

Statin Nation also exposes the myth that fat and cholesterol are bad for us, draws attention to the real causes of heart disease and heart attack and suggests ways to prevent them without using medicines as far as possible. It makes the readers aware of the serious side-effects of statin drugs and reveals important information about the outcome of clinical trials conducted with statin drugs.

One of the most interesting chapters of this well-written book describes the real causes of heart ailments. Here Justin Smith delineates the effects of stress and explains why our body’s stress response is out-of-date. We have a very illuminating discussion here on what is stress, how the human body reacts in a stressful situation and why our bodies are made to endure short, immediate incidences of stress but not longer, sustained ones. For the present reviewer, those pages of the book are an eye-opener.

Statin Nation also dwells at length on the importance of Vitamin C, magnesium, sodium and potassium as well as the intake of water for the prevention of heart diseases. This section, although somewhat repetitive, contains a wealth of information. It will also help healthy readers who have no concerns as far as statin drugs are concerned.

This chapter on nutrition could have had a little more information on carbohydrates consumed in the form of grains and its effect on heart health. This is important because grains are the staple food in many countries, especially those that are relatively poor, as grains are a comparatively more economical source of calories.. Should we completely avoid grains or can we consume some grains and some safe starches in moderate quantities as part of a balanced diet? We hope to find the answers to such questions in the next edition of this book.

Even with all the details about scientific experiments and clinical trials, Statin Nation remains an extremely readable book for the lay readers. It will help you more than any medicines in controlling your hearth problems and attaining good health. Buy it and read it. Keep it on your shelf for future reference.

The reviewer is obligated to let the readers know that he received a free electronic copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.