"If you ask me to boil down the modern doctor-patient relationship to its most basic elements, cholesterol pretty much sums it up."

"No single concept has permeated American medical culture to the extent of our anxiety about cholesterol."

"It doesn't matter if you're old or young, male or female, rich or poor, educated or not. Whether you love American-style high-tech medical care or forswear it for an Eastern-oriented herbal approach, patients from all perspectives come to me and fret about their cholesterol."