By David Blyweiss, M.D., Advanced Natural Wellness

December 4, 2020

You know, I’ve been saying it for years…

And now as the medical community becomes more and more aware of recent well designed studies,they are becoming more and more unified in their thinking on something important… statins.

And the news isn’t good.  One study I read recently called statins a “colossal waste of money.”

So, if you are currently taking statins to lower your cholesterol levels, you should read carefully.  Not only have you been misled by clever marketing, but these drugs may actually be putting your health at risk.

Is Cholesterol Really the Enemy?

The majority of the cholesterol that we see circulating in our bodies is made by our liver. Although it gets a bad rap, you actually need cholesterol for your health.

It is important for cell function, helps insulate nerve fibers in the brain and plays an important role in your hormones. [1]  If you don’t have enough cholesterol, your levels of sex hormones can begin to plummet.

I’m sure you’ve also heard about so-called “bad” LDL cholesterol. Again, this is important for your body because it goes into your body’s powerhouses – called mitochondria – to burn fat and create energy.

Finally, the older you get, the more important cholesterol becomes for your brain.

Common medical advice has long said that we need to keep our levels of the LDL cholesterol low to prevent heart attacks.  In reality, over  three-quarters  (¾…75%…most! ) of the clinical trials reported no benefits for lowering cholesterol. [2]

People also like to cite a famous study called the Minnesota Coronary Experiment when talking about the so-called dangers of cholesterol.  This experiment looked at 9,423 subjects who replaced saturated fat in their diets with vegetable oils in order to lower cholesterol levels. [3]

The results were surprising.  Death and heart attacks increased even though total cholesterol levels were lowered by 13.8%. Yes, lower levels of cholesterol actually made heart health worse!

This is all important information to know because cholesterol is not the real enemy here… statins are.

Statin Drugs are Bad News All Around

Doctors who still fear cholesterol love to prescribe statin drugs to their patients.  But these drugs are doing more harm than good.

First off, production of cholesterol in your body is related to another important enzyme called CoQ10 – which is an important antioxidant for your body.

So, when you take statin drugs, you are actually lowering your levels of CoQ10 at the same time.  This can result in dementia-like brain symptoms and heart problems.

Then, there are a number of health concerns directly related to statins. Statin use is associated with muscle problems, cataracts, hearing loss, suicidal thoughts, depression, Parkinson’s, herpes, cognitive impairment, diabetes, and even sexual impotency. [4]

I’ve even seen research that showed that if your cholesterol dropped below a hundred, you have an increased risk for cancer.  This is on top of all your downstream hormones being denied their main biobuilding block and going out of whack.

Honestly, statins are not only a waste of money… they’re also a danger to your health and longevity.

I’ve encountered patients who were put on statins by another doctor.  Normally, with these folks, I try to counsel them and show them the facts:

1) Statins don’t prevent heart attacks.  They actually increase your risk for cardiovascular disease. [5]

2) And they don’t extend your life. In fact, taking these dangerous drugs is more likely to make your life shorter and more miserable due to your many aches and pains.

3) Statins are just a money-making machine.  More and more people will continue to start on statins each year.  It’s the most profitable set of drugs of all time.

Since statins first came around in the late 1980s, we’ve spent nearly $1 trillion on statins.  (That’s “trillion” with a T!) Lipitor, one of the most popular statins, was named the most profitable drug in the history of all medicine. [6]

Clever marketing and misleading medical information have kept this scheme going on the last few decades.

Drug representatives will go to medical conferences, lobby physicians (like they do politicians) into prescribing their drug to treat patients’ high cholesterol.

This is practically malpractice in my opinion…

4) Do your own research and ask questions.  If you are currently taking statins, do some research.  Don’t let yourself be taken in with marketing puffery.. Learn about cholesterol and statins.  Perhaps you’ll want to have a conversation with your doctor.

5) You should avoid this one type of cholesterol. There’s a certain form of cholesterol that is oxidized.  One example of this is found in egg yolks that are exposed to the air while being cooked at high temperatures.

So maybe cut down or cut out scrambled eggs or omelets.  Instead, eat your eggs soft, hard or otherwise boiled, over-easy, or over-medium; I poach mine when  I eat breakfast.  Look for organic, pasture raised eggs with yolks that are dark yellow or even a rich orange color for a healthy source of choline.

So before you decide to take a dangerous set of drugs like statins, take a hard look at your own diet, lifestyle, stress levels, ongoing health issues… Remember, the stronger a drug’s effects, the stronger the potential side effects.

Sources:

[1] Schilling, Ray. “Statins Can Hurt The Consumer.” (2013).

[2] British Medical Journal. Press Release. “Doubt cast on wisdom of targeting ‘bad’ cholesterol to curb heart disease risk,” Available Online: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-08-wisdom-bad-cholesterol-curb-heart.html

[3] Ramsden, Christopher E., et al. “Re-evaluation of the traditional diet-heart hypothesis: analysis of recovered data from Minnesota Coronary Experiment (1968-73).” bmj 353 (2016).

[4] Uffe Ravnskov, Michel de Lorgeril, David M Diamond, Rokuro Hama, Tomohito Hamazaki, Björn Hammarskjöld, Niamh Hynes, Malcolm Kendrick, Peter H Langsjoen, Luca Mascitelli, Kilmer S McCully, Harumi Okuyama, Paul J Rosch, Tore Schersten, Sherif Sultan & Ralf Sundberg (2018) LDL-C does not cause cardiovascular disease: a comprehensive review of the current literature, Expert Review of Clinical Pharmacology, 11:10, 959-970, DOI: 10.1080/17512433.2018.1519391

[5]Dr. Malcolm Kendrick, Op-ed, rt.com, 4 Aug, 2020, Available Online: https://www.rt.com/op-ed/497065-cholesterol-statins-cardiovascular-disease/

[6] Youtube.com Maryanne Demasi, Statin Wars: Have We Been Misled by the Evidence?, 14:40 minutes