18 million deaths annually worldwide are due to cardiovascular diseases (CVD); this renders CVD
the most severe pandemic that we must face. This book aims to fill a gap in the literature on how
flawed our approach is to prevent and treat CVD. Our current practice, which focuses on attacking
only the cholesterol using statins, is both short-sighted and ineffective. A different approach is
suggested regarding personalised lifestyle and diet choices. Such an approach focuses on the chronic
inflammation which causes the formation of thrombus in our arteries, which is the first step to the
onset of CVD. The anti-inflammatory role of food polar lipids is discussed.

Ioannis Zabetakis is a food chemist with considerable academic experience and a passion for developing novel functional feeds, foods and nutraceuticals to help prevent or tackle cardiovascular diseases. His academic career spans over twenty-five years, working with the University of Leeds (UK), University of Athens (Greece) and University of Limerick (Ireland). His research focuses on how food lipids can inhibit the aggregation of platelets. Ioannis has been either the co-author or editor of eleven scientific books so far (seven in Greek and three in English) and has published over 110 scientific papers (Scopus index h=36). He also holds two patents. Ioannis believes that the statin approach against cardiovascular diseases does not work. He is, therefore, an advocate of a healthy and personalised lifestyle and diet choices that can reduce cardiovascular risk.