To the Editor: In October 2013, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation television program Catalyst featured a two-part documentary series entitled Heart of the matter. The first episode questioned the role of dietary saturated fat in the development of heart disease, and the second debated the use of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase inhibitors (statins) as a suitable treatment for hypercholesterolaemia.1
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- 1. Demasi M. Heart of the matter. The cholesterol myth: dietary villains and cholesterol drug war. Catalyst 2013; 24 and 31 Oct. http://www.abc. net.au/catalyst/heartofthematter (accessed Nov 2013).
- 2. Coleman J. Viewing Catalyst’s cholesterol programs through the sceptometer. The Conversation 2013; 4 Nov. http://theconversation.com/viewing-catalysts-cholesterol-programs-through-the-sceptometer-19817 (accessed Nov 2013).
- 3. Carter AA, Gomes T, Camacho X, et al. Risk of incident diabetes among patients treated with statins: population based study. BMJ 2013; 346: f2610.
- 4. Ray KK, Cannon CP, Ganz P. Beyond lipid lowering: what have we learned about the benefits of statins from the acute coronary syndromes trials? Am J Cardiol 2006; 98 (11 Suppl 1): 18P-25P.
- 5. Ho PM, Spertus JA, Masoudi FA, et al. Impact of medication therapy discontinuation on mortality after myocardial infarction. Arch Intern Med 2006; 166: 1842-1847.
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