I REALLY Despise This Zetia TV Commercial

Am I the only one who absolutely despises with a passion that infamous Zetia TV commercial that's been running this year? You know the one--a fat woman pretending to be a cooking show host on The Food Network cooking up a bunch of carb-loaded dishes while talking about her "high" cholesterol despite eating "healthy" and that she needs a prescription drug like Zetia made by Merck to help lower her cholesterol.

Just in case you may have missed it, watch the one-minute ad NOW:


There's so much I'd like to say about this asinine commercial that I'll transcribe it line-by-line for you along with my commentary in between. ENJOY!

FAT LADY: "Millions of people watch me cook, but I watch what I eat."

Um, only on a fake cooking show could you claim "millions" watch you. I'm sure Emeril and Rachael Ray get the largest audiences on The Food Network, but their numbers aren't in the MILLIONS. Come on! And then to trot this obviously overweight woman out as the poster child for being healthy making the claim, "I watch what I eat." Yeah, she watches every single bite of those high-carb foods go right into her mouth!

FAT LADY: "Still, when my doctor checked my cholesterol, it was slightly higher than we'd like."

Hmmm, I wonder why that could be? Can you say carbohydrate overload?! Doesn't she realize that high-carb diet does a doozy on HDL and triglycerides?

FAT LADY: "We talk about stains--a good option!"

This is the most annoying part of the entire commercial. Statins very clearly are NOT a "good option" for dealing with a problem that doesn't really exist. That's why there are multiple class action lawsuits filed against the companies that make these drugs. They're bad news and should not be taken by ANYONE!

FAT LADY: "For me, he chose Zetia. It works differently. Statins work mainly with the liver. Zetia works in the digestive tract like some other medicines. But Zetia is unique in the way it helps block the absorption of cholesterol that comes from food."

Well, this would matter if cholesterol was raised by consuming cholesterol in the diet. Respected bestselling low-carb author Dana Carpender explains why in her latest book Every Calorie Counts. Well worth reading!!!

FAT LADY: "Zetia, along with a healthy diet, lowered bad cholesterol by an average of 30 points, that's 18 percent!"

What if we didn't have Zetia, Ms. Fat Fake Cooking Show Host Lady? Would that "healthy diet" just be making us sicker by raising our cholesterol? Perhaps if you started livin' la vida low-carb, you would see IMPROVEMENTS in your lipid profile and wouldn't need no stinkin' drug. Gee, now there's an idea!

FAT LADY: "It complements what I'm already doing."

Obviously what you are "already doing" ain't working so hot! The low-carb lifestyle could really help you there, ya know!

VOICEOVER ANNOUNCER: "Zetia may not be right for people who have ever had liver problems, are nursing or pregnant, or may become pregnant. Your doctor will decide if Zetia is right for you."

Oh, he won't decide. But that Merck pharmaceutical rep sure will put enough ($$$) incentive ($$$) in front of him to coerce him into suddenly realizing that Zetia is "right" for a whole lot of his patients. It's disgusting how pills are being distributed like candy with no regard for what the patient REALLY needs to be healthy.

VOICEOVER ANNOUNCER: "Unexplained muscle pain or weakness could be a sign of a rare, but serious side effect and should be reported to a doctor right away. Common side effects included tiredness and stomach pain."

Hmmm, these "side effects" sound awful familiar to the ones that statins cause. Haven't they read the results of the "Statin Effects Study" from the University of California at San Diego? Zetia will very likely be the next phase of this ongoing investigative study.

FAKE COOKING SHOW PRODUCER: "3-2-...."

Oh, and he looks so real faking a countdown before the cameras roll!

FAT LADY: "Cook It Healthy!"

Can you imagine the laughing stock this lady would be if she was REALLY the host of a cooking show called "Cook It Healthy?" Talk about your irony of all ironies! Plus, that nasally voice would get to be a bit too obnoxious for me if I had to suffer through a half-hour show with her yappin' away about her low-fat recipes. Yippee...NOT!

FAT LADY: "Ask your doctor if Zetia is right for you. Zetia. A different way to help fight cholesterol."

It's no different than what we've seen before because it still pretends that you need a drug to take care of your cholesterol. Wanna REALLY know how to get your cholesterol under control? You can start by reading the absolute best book on the subject by Australian independent researcher Anthony Colpo called The Great Cholesterol Con.

Let me know what you think about Zetia after reading that book!

Study: High-Carb Consumption Leads To Lower HDL, Higher Triglyceride Levels

Dr. Anwar T. Merchant studied how to raise HDL and lower triglycerides

This Reuters Health column about a new study from Canadian researchers on the ethnic differences in cholesterol levels among various people groups reveals an important fact about livin' la vida low-carb that most people eating this way are already abundantly aware of.

Lead researcher Dr. Anwar T. Merchant, assistant professor in the Department of Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics at the Hamilton, ON-based McMaster University and a member of the Population Health Research Institute, and his fellow researchers observed the diet and lipid profile of 619 Canadians of Native American, South Asian, Chinese and European descent to determine if the differences in cholesterol and other blood fat levels could possibly be tied to diet.

However, unlike previous studies that had exclusively look at the role of dietary fat, Dr. Merchant and his colleagues decided to see if carbohydrate consumption had something to do with the disparity among the different ethnic groups. South Asian participants eat more carbohydrates and had the lowest levels of HDL cholesterol in their blood. Conversely, the Chinese participants ate the least amount of carbohydrates and they exhibited the highest levels of HDL cholesterol (something this study showed could happen to HDL levels when a low-carb diet is implemented).

Dr. Merchant noticed that when fat was removed from the diet and replaced with an equal number of carbohydrate calories, both the LDL and HDL cholesterol levels drop while triglycerides go way up.

The following is a list from most to least amount of carb consumption:

1. South Asians
2. Europeans
3. Native Americans
4. Chinese

Even when adjustments are made for age, ethnicity, body mass index and alcohol intake, the carbohydrate connection to lower HDL levels was undeniable. The high-carb group saw an average level of 1.08 mmol/L while the low-carb group experienced an HDL level of 1.21 mmol/L.

The researchers found that for each additional 100 grams of carbohydrates consumed daily led to a 0.15 mmol/L drop in HDL cholesterol and a corresponding rise in triglycerides. The primary culprits named in the study for higher carb intake include sugary soft drinks, fruit juices and junk food snacks with extra sugar and carbohydrates.

"Reducing the frequency of intake of sugar-containing soft drinks, juices and snacks may be beneficial," the researchers conclude.

This study was published in the January 2007 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Despite the fact that low-fat diet activist Dr. Dean Ornish described HDL cholesterol in his interview with me last year as "garbage trucks" to get rid of the junk (fat) that you put in your body, the fact is that higher HDL cholesterol and lower triglycerides is a VERY GOOD thing. It's also an excellent indicator if you are actually livin' la vida low-carb or not because your HDL will be over 50 and your triglycerides will be below 100.

We have seen from previous research that lower HDL levels put at a greater risk for heart disease; thus, we can infer that higher levels of HDL actually PROTECTS against heart disease. Plus, respected nutrition researcher Dr. Jeff Volek from the University of Connecticut has asserted that examining the triglyceride/HDL ratio is a much better marker than total cholesterol and LDL levels for protecting against heart disease.

I don't know about you, but I trust the findings of a researcher like Dr. Volek who has poured his entire life into this subject over a self-righteous and inaccurate 30-second television ad that blares across my screen 20,000 times a night (by the way, have you seen the new Zetia commercial with that fat lady who has a healthy cooking show calling statins "a good option?" I wanna throw up every time I hear her say that! But isn't it quite ironic that she has to take a medicine to lower her cholesterol when she is supposedly making "healthy" recipes? If they were low-carb she wouldn't need the drugs! But I digress!).

Anyone who is confused about why LDL, HDL, and triglyceride levels are important or simply wants to educate themselves further on the role of cholesterol in the body needs to get a copy of independent researcher Anthony Colpo's magnificent book "The Great Cholesterol Con." He recently expanded and updated it with brand new content, so you will be armed with the facts rather than relying on the pharmaceutical companies to give you the information you need. They're in it to make a buck, so you probably should take EVERYTHING you hear from a cholesterol-lowering medication ad with a grain of salt.

You can e-mail Dr. Anwar T. Merchant about his fantastic study at merchant@ccc.mcmaster.ca.