Understanding Cholesterol, Part III

+++ This is the third part of a series on cholesterol. Read Part I + Part II. +++

Statins are a class of drugs known to inhibit the HMG CoA enzyme, an enzyme that is a big player in the chain of reactions that occurs to form cholesterol.

Millions of people take statins to lower cholesterol and lower cardiac risk. Big Pharma has made billions of dollars from the sale of Crestor, Lipitor, Lovastatin, Pravastatin, and Zocor.

Fact: Statins lower cholesterol and LDL. Statins decrease the amount of cholesterol available to your brain, to your digestive tract, to every cell in your body, to your hormones. 

Fact: Every cell in your body is dependent upon cholesterol. Statins limit the production of cholesterol which is critical for cell function, digestion, hormone formation, and vitamin D production which can lead to a host of ill effects. 

A short list of statin related side effects include:

• Cataracts

• Diabetes

• Liver damage

• Low testosterone

• Memory loss

• Muscle damage

• Transient amnesia

Consider

A randomized, double-blind study (AFCAPS/TEXCAPS) with a total of 5608 men and 997 women was conducted in outpatient clinics in Texas. Participants were either given Lovastatin (20-40 mg daily) or a placebo in addition to following a low-saturated fat, low-cholesterol diet. After following participants for five years, the difference between the groups experiencing cardiac events was 4.9% in the statin group versus 6.4% in the placebo group.

• The study found there was a mere difference of 1.5% after 5.2 years on the prescription drug. 

• In layman’s terms: 63 people need to take a statin for five years in order to prevent one person from having a cardiac event. 

• If you break those results down into pill consumption, it looks like this: If 63 people take a statin for five years, 114, 975 pills would be consumed to prevent one cardiac event. That is a lot of money for Big Pharma.

• The number of people that died from the AFCAPS/TEXCAPS study was the same in each group. In the statin group, fewer people died of heart disease yet they were more likely to die from cancer and suicide.

• The AFCAPS/TEXCAPS study was funded by Merck, the manufacturer of Pravastatin.

Your doctor is not a bad doctor if they recommend a statin. Doctors are busy seeing patients every ten minutes to meet their quotas. They hardly have time to read the research and if they do, it’s likely the research they read is published in a journal sponsored by Big Pharma. As well, drug reps regularly appear in doctors’ offices, providing lunch, drug samples, marketing materials, and colorful graphs pointing out their amazing new product. This is the powerful marketing arm of Big Pharma.

I believe there is a better way to address high cholesterol and thus lower the risk of heart disease without harmful pharmaceuticals. High cholesterol and heart disease do not occur because your body lacks a statin. Disease is born of chronic inflammation which stems from chemicals, pathogens, toxins, stress, and poor nutrition. Statins are simply a Band-Aid approach and do not address the root cause of elevated cholesterol.