Statin Drugs and Cholesterol

Cholesterol, for years has had its own ups and downs in regard to what is considered normal and healthy and what is not. Cholesterol is used in every endocrine reaction in the body and up until the mid 70's it was considered that cholesterol normal levels were between 250-350 and then suddenly, appeared the "norm," that anything over 200 was considered too high. Then we got into the good high density lipid proteins (HDL) as opposed to the bad low density lipid proteins. (LDL) Were the molecules big or small with the lipids, the ratios between the HDL's and the LDL's and on and on. While some or all of this may be true, statin drugs came to be the "norm" of administration to deal with this high cholesterol and for the last 25 years statin drugs in the form of Lipitor, Crestor, Zocor have been among the world's most widely popular drugs. Up until recently, statins were viewed as completely safe and effective to lower the risk of having a heart attack and more often than not, doctors will rush to prescribe them.

According to Newsmax Healtlh publication there has been a big turnaround with the medical experts in regard to statins and cholesterol. "Low cholesterol readings, they say, do not mean that you won't have a heart attack." What is becoming more and more clear is that statins have very serious side effects, the most prominent of them being that statins are linked to increased diabetes risk. The US Food and Drug Administration has now put a warning label on all statin drugs, stating that they could cause diabetes and a wide range of muscle disorders, cognitive and memory problems and confusion Since that time other studies have now linked statins to a greater risk of cataracts, fatigue and low-energy levels.

Many doctors felt that everyone should be on cholesterol lowering drugs whether they had heart disease or not. Dr. Chauncey Crandall, M.D. Chief of the cardiac transplant program at the Palm Beach Cardiovascular clinic in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, states that "healthy people should generally not take statins as a preventive measure against heart disease. They were taught in medical school, he further states, that any abnormality, should be dealt with by giving a medication if it was available and high cholesterol problems and medications for it, were no exception. Dr. Topol who is chief academic officer at the Scripps Research Institute, states that the link between diabetes and the more powerful statins as previously mentioned, is alarming. The link between diabetes and statins might be justified for people with heart disease, but studies recently indicate this helps only 2 out of 100 people.

Michael R Eades in his book "Protein Power" makes a bold statement which basically is as follows: Almost all elevated blood pressure and cholesterol is due to the body's inability to handle insulin and glucagon, which translates as too much sugar. Again, rather than look to a balance which would come from a healthy diet, people are so quick to look for an outside source to correct what they themselves have created. There has been a real blindness in the world's populace. Cholesterol lowering drugs are a $31 billion dollar cash machine.

There are two important things that scientists can't explain.

• 50 percent of people with heart disease have normal cholesterol levels.


• 50 percent of people with elevated cholesterol have perfectly normal hearts.

If you want to cut your heart risk, cut your sugar intake. Sugar is aligned with heart disease and most diseases much better than fat. Cancer loves sugar. Sugar is especially inflammatory and is related to high triglycerides, a large waistline, low HDL "good" cholesterol, high blood pressure and high fasting blood glucose.

How would you like to get off statins after adding this information to your health roster? For those under very high risk for heart disease, statins can be appropriate. You can check with your doctor for such things as a Calcium CT scan which will measure any blockage around the heart. C-reactive Protein tests will measure inflammation within the arterial walls and you can have ultra sound scanning done around the carotid artery. Adding up these results will give you more information.

Dr Chauncey Crandall has some tips for getting off statins. They are as suggested:

• Change your diet and make it a plant-based, whole food diet.


• Lose weight for good.


• Exercise, walk an hour each day and mix in other types of exercise as well.


• 8 hours of sleep at night. Sleep deprivation raises cholesterol.


• Understand and add cholesterol lowering foods to your diet. Such foods would include fiber-rich foods like oatmeal, nuts (particularly almonds), fish, plant sterols, flaxseed, organic grape juice, apples and other foods that contain pectin can help.


• Check with your Doctor to review cholesterol levels, blood pressure, weight and glucose levels. Ask if niacin supplements to raise your good HDL would help.

Go back to the basics and try and correct things naturally. As you can now more understand, statin drugs may be of very little value with the odd exception. Since statin drugs carry many disturbing side effects, do not be a statistic to a medication related "corrective" drug that may do little else except to make your personal health more precarious. Making your own health your personal challenge and being responsible for it and getting yearly examinations will yield a healthier you. Do not rush to take the "latest and greatest" because it may produce just the opposite results. Certainly statin drugs and cholesterol are not, generally speaking, the way to better health.