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Dwight Lundell

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Dwight Lundell is an American cholesterol denialist, conspiracy theorist, low-carb high-fat diet promoter and former cardiothoracic surgeon who peddles the "we’ve all been lied to" narrative to sell books.[1][2] Lundell believes that the cure for heart disease is eating a diet rich in saturated fat.Do You Believe That?

In 2008, Lundell's medical license was revoked due to several counts of professional misconduct and negligence.[3]

The Great Cholesterol Lie

Lundell has authored the conspiracy theory book, The Great Cholesterol Lie. He makes the irrational claim that high blood cholesterol levels do not increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and doctors have been lying to everyone since 1948.[4] He opposes the data from evidence-based medicine and tries to convince people to avoid taking cholesterol-lowering medications or eating a low-fat diet. Instead, he proposes a low-carb high-fat diet, fish oil supplements, and conjugated linoleic acid supplements.[1][5]

Lundell opposes the use of statin drugs which he claims are dangerous and are the "biggest fraud in history".[6][7]

Twitter nuttiness

Lundell attacks conventional medical advice and promotes conspiracy theories about statins on Twitter. His tweets are usually no more than a sentence:

Statins are a public health hazard[8]
Relative risk just another way to lie[9]
Statins, biggest fraud ever[10]
No one should take statins [11]
Low fat cannot be defended except by the willfully ignorant[12]

Criticism

The National Council Against Health Fraud have noted that:

Dwight C. Lundell, M.D., who lost his Arizona medical license in 2008, has been promoting books that clash with scientific knowledge of health disease and prevention. His central premise is coronary heart disease is caused by inflammation and that lowering cholesterol levels will not lower the risk of heart attacks or strokes. Instead, he advocates a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet, low-dose aspirin, and fish oil and conjugated linoleic acid supplements for everyone. Lundell's offerings are promoted with the statement that he has performed more than 5,000 operations during 25 years of cardiothoracic surgical practice. But they fail to mention that between 2000 and 2008, he was subjected to five regulatory actions by the Arizona Medical Board and in 2004 he was also convicted of wilful failure to file federal income tax returns for the years 1992 though 1996.[13]

Publications

External links

References