This may sound like an April Fool s joke, but a team of British researchers from Imperial College London are apparently serious when they suggest that fast food restaurants should give away statins to combat the heart disease dangers of fatty foods.
It makes sense to make risk-reducing supplements available just as easily as the unhealthy condiments that are provided free of charge, says Dr. Darrel Francis, who published the article in Sunday s American Journal of Cardiology. It would cost less than 5p [US$.07] per customer not much different to a sachet of ketchup.
They start with a tremendous fallacy, that diet is primarily responsible for raising your cholesterol, says ACSH s Dr. Elizabeth Whelan. That is not true. Even though this might be a joke, it s based on misrepresented facts.
The quotes attributed to those who wrote this article do not seem to suggest that they think this is a joke, observes ACSH s Dr. Gilbert Ross. This is the junkiest of junk science. I hesitate to even use the word science in this discussion. Their suggestion that restaurants should give out statin packets like ketchup is based on no evidence and should be ignored, as it perpetuates the false notion that fast foods are the primary cause of elevated cholesterol.
