Taking Statin Drugs for Cholesterol

Chances are that you or someone you know is taking a statin drug to lower their cholesterol. The statins (or HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors) are a class of drugs that lower cholesterol levels in people with or at risk of cardiovascular disease. These drugs have become very popular among doctors who are pushing harder and harder to have everyone possible taking statin drugs to lower their cholesterol below the new artificially low threshold level of 150 or lower even though normal cholesterol levels can range up to 260 or 270, depending on your HDL ratio. The HDL to total cholesterol ratio should be greater than 25%.

Statins lower cholesterol by inhibiting the enzyme HMG-CoA reductase, which is the rate-limiting enzyme of the cholesterol synthesis. Inhibition of this enzyme in the liver results in decreased cholesterol synthesis as well as increased synthesis of LDL receptors, resulting in an increased clearance of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) from the bloodstream.

If you are taking one of the following cholesterol-lowering statin drugs or you have been advised by your doctor to begin taking one, you need to read this information first. The most familiar commercial names of the statin drugs are: Lipitor, Torvast, Lescol, Lescol XL, Pravachol, Selektine, Lipostat, Zocor, Lipex, Crestor, Livalo, Pitava, Simcor, Caduet, Advicor, Vytorin, Mevacor, Altocor, and Altoprev.

Nowhere is the failing of our medical system more evident than in the wholesale acceptance of cholesterol reduction as a way to prevent disease--have all these doctors forgotten what they learned in biochemistry 101 about the many roles of cholesterol in the human body? Every cell membrane in our body contains cholesterol because cholesterol is what makes our cells waterproof--without cholesterol we could not have a different biochemistry on the inside and the outside of the cell. When cholesterol levels are not adequate, the cell membrane becomes leaky or porous, a situation the body interprets as an emergency, releasing a flood of corticoid hormones that work by sequestering cholesterol from one part of the body and transporting it to areas where it is lacking. Cholesterol is the body’s repair substance: scar tissue contains high levels of cholesterol, including scar tissue in the arteries.

Cholesterol is the precursor to vitamin D, necessary for numerous biochemical processes including mineral metabolism. The bile salts, required for the digestion of fat, are made of cholesterol. Those who suffer from low cholesterol often have trouble digesting fats. Cholesterol also functions as a powerful antioxidant, thus protecting us against cancer and aging. Cholesterol is vital to proper neurological function. It plays a key role in the formation of memory and the uptake of hormones in the brain, including serotonin, the body’s feel-good chemical. When cholesterol levels drop too low, the serotonin receptors cannot work. Cholesterol is the main organic molecule in the brain, constituting over half the dry weight of the cerebral cortex.

MORE CHOLESTEROL-LOWERING DRUGS FOR EVERYONE

The medical profession is again reworking the guidelines for healthy cholesterol levels. The end result will be millions more taking statin drugs like Lipitor, Zocor, Pravachol, Lescol, and Mevacor. These drugs will now be prescribed for people with no history of coronary artery disease—about 36 million potential candidates! You have to marvel at the manner in which organized businesses like medicine and pharmaceuticals can work together to develop such a remarkable game plan to supposedly improve the nation's health while making billions of dollars. Of the 14 doctors on the cholesterol guidelines committee, five have connections to drug companies. But the average patient would never know this.

If benefit of the doubt is given—that cholesterol-lowering will benefit Americans—you still have to be shaken when you think that powerful drugs are becoming the first line of defense. These drugs inhibit cholesterol production in the liver. Yet cholesterol is a powerful substance—without which your brain will fail, your hormonal system will fail, your repair mechanisms on a cellular level will fail, and much more. To arbitrarily chemically alter cholesterol levels artificially is certainly a risky proposition—especially for the long haul. We now know that for older Americans over age 70 to 75, longevity increases with increasing cholesterol levels.

Who knows if we are creating increasing legions of patients with serious depression and emotional problems? These are often side effects of cholesterol levels that are too low. And what about the side effects from the drugs themselves? Many people cannot tolerate the severe digestive upset, sore muscles, nerve damage, heavy headaches, and depletion of Co Enzyme Q-10 that these drugs can cause. But the most important factor in this scheme is that again the underlying cause is not being addressed. Rather than artificially interfering with liver function by using powerful chemicals, the major causes of abnormal cholesterol and blood fat levels and ratios should be addressed naturally first. If these fail, drugs can then be used as a last resort. This would avert millions of sick people suffering from the side effects of these drugs.

All patients with blood fat and cholesterol problems should first change their diet to a Mediterranean diet. Secondly, an omega-3 fatty acid supplement (like a tablespoon of raw flax or fish oil) should be taken daily. Exercise should be started at least four times weekly, including aerobic exercise and resistance training. And since most blood fat problems start with a sluggish liver and gallbladder, these systems should be detoxified and flushed if necessary.

Take the words from the Journal of American Medical Association to heart. The best way to treat Cardio Vascular disease is to prevent it. This of course is accomplished with proper diet, exercise, pure water, and the best whole-food supplements. If you already suffer from heart disease, never treat it only medically. Always include a nutritional approach with your medical therapy.

FAT AND CHOLESTEROL DO NOT CAUSE HEART DISEASE

It is an absolute proven fact that fat and cholesterol in the diet do not raise cholesterol levels. Common sense proves this since millions of people who eat fat and cholesterol do not have high cholesterol. And millions of people who do not eat fat and cholesterol do have high cholesterol. And if common sense is not good enough for you, the medical research statistics, especially from the latest study on the cholesterol-lowering statin drug Vytorin, prove it. Raised cholesterol levels do not cause heart disease. Once again, common sense proves this because of the millions of people with low cholesterol levels that have heart disease, and vice versa.

Again, all the medical research (properly examined) proves it. Since high cholesterol does not cause heart disease, statin (cholesterol-lowering) drugs cannot protect against heart disease. But you will never learn any of these facts because the fat and cholesterol research is slanted and manipulated to sell drugs. Another absolute fact is that a high-fat diet does not cause heart disease. This one is also easy to prove. You simply need to put up a map of the world and color the countries with the highest dietary fat intake red. Then put up the same map right next to it and color the countries with the highest heart disease rates blue. And much to the horror of the low-fat diet group, the two do not match. In fact, some countries with the highest fat intake have seven times less heart disease than countries with the lowest fat intake. Naturally, since eating fat does not cause heart disease, the typical medically prescribed lowfat diet does not and can not prevent or cure heart disease.

Risks of Statin Drugs

These are some of the risks associated with statin use.

Cognitive Impairment
An article in Pharmacotherapy, December 2003, for example, reports two cases of cognitive impairment associated with Lipitor and Zocor. Both patients suffered progressive cognitive decline that reversed completely within a month after discontinuation of the statins. A study conducted at the University of Pittsburgh showed that patients treated with statins for six months compared poorly with patients on a placebo in solving complex mazes, psychomotor skills and memory tests. Dr. Golomb has found that 15 percent of statin patients develop some cognitive side effects. The most harrowing involve global transient amnesia--complete memory loss for a brief or lengthy period--described by former astronaut Duane Graveline in his book Lipitor: Thief of Memory.

Depression
Numerous studies have linked low cholesterol with depression. One of the most recent found that women with low cholesterol are twice as likely to suffer from depression and anxiety.

Pancreatic Rot
The medical literature contains several reports of pancreatitis in patients taking statins. One paper describes the case of a 49-year-old woman who was admitted to the hospital with diarrhea and septic shock one month after beginning treatment with lovastatin. She died after prolonged hospitalization; the cause of death was necrotizing pancreatitis. Her doctors noted that the patient had no evidence of common risk factors for acute pancreatitis, such as biliary tract disease or alcohol use.

Interferes with Hormone Production
Cholesterol is the precursor to all the hormones produced in the adrenal cortex including glucocorticoids, which regulate blood sugar levels, and mineralocorticoids, which regulate mineral balance. Corticoids are the cholesterol-based adrenal hormones that the body uses in response to stress of various types; it promotes healing and balances the tendency to inflammation. The adrenal cortex also produces sex hormones, including testosterone, estrogen and progesterone, out of cholesterol. Thus, low cholesterol--whether due to an innate error of metabolism or induced by cholesterol-lowering diets and drugs--can be expected to disrupt the production of adrenal hormones and lead to:

Blood sugar problems
Edema
Mineral deficiencies
Chronic inflammation
Difficulty in healing
Allergies
Asthma
Reduced libido
Infertility
Various reproductive problems

Cancer
In every study with rodents to date, statins have caused cancer. Why have we not seen such a dramatic correlation in human studies? Because cancer takes a long time to develop and most of the statin trials do not go on longer than two or three years. Still, in one trial, the CARE trial, breast cancer rates of those taking a statin went up 1500 percent. In the Heart Protection Study, non-melanoma skin cancer occurred in 243 patients treated with simvastatin compared with 202 cases in the control group. Manufacturers of statin drugs have recognized the fact that statins depress the immune system, an effect that can lead to cancer and infectious disease and even recommending statin use for inflammatory arthritis and as an immune suppressor for transplant patients.

Cardiologist Peter Langsjoen studied 20 patients with completely normal heart function. After six months on a low dose of 20 mg of Lipitor a day, two-thirds of the patients had abnormalities in the heart’s filling phase, when the muscle fills with blood. According to Langsjoen this malfunction is due to Co-Enzyme Q10 (Co-Q10) depletion. Without Co-Q10, the cell’s mitochondria are inhibited from producing energy, leading to muscle pain and weakness. The heart is especially susceptible because it uses so much energy. Co-Q10 depletion becomes more and more of a problem as the pharmaceutical industry encourages doctors to lower cholesterol levels in their patients by greater and greater amounts. Fifteen animal studies in six different animal species have documented statin-induced Co-Q10 depletion leading to decreased ATP production, increased injury from heart failure, skeletal muscle injury and increased mortality. Of the nine controlled trials on statin-induced Co-Q10 depletion in humans, eight showed significant Co-Q10 depletion leading to decline in left ventricular function and biochemical imbalances.

Yet virtually all patients with heart failure are put on statin drugs, even if their cholesterol is already low. Of interest is a recent study indicating that patients with chronic heart failure benefit from having high levels of cholesterol rather than low. Researchers in Hull, UK followed 114 heart failure patients for at least 12 months. Survival was 78 percent at 12 months and 56 percent at 36 months. They found that for every point of decrease in serum cholesterol, there was a 36 percent increase in the risk of death within 3 years.

So What Does Cause Heart Disease?
If fat and cholesterol do not cause heart disease, what does? In simplest terms, most heart disease is caused by nutritional deficiencies and imbalances. This is clear and easily treated by making just a few changes in your life.

Step One to a Healthy Heart
The first step is to start with the obvious. Since most heart disease is caused by nutritional deficiencies and imbalances, you must fulfill your heart's need for nutrients. Unfortunately almost all store-bought, synthetic, fractionated, and highly processed "superpotent" vitamins and minerals will not work. They are overpriced and will just waste more of your time. Instead provide your heart with real nutritional complexes that work. These come from foods, extracts, concentrates, and supplements made from the whole food. For the average heart disease patient, there is a basic nutrient protocol that can be started immediately.

The products of choice, produced by Standard Process Labs, are: Cardio-Plus (6-9 daily), Cataplex B (6-9 daily), Cataplex F (6 daily), and Min-Tran (6-12 daily). Also add a teaspoon to tablespoon of Blue Ice™ High Vitamin Cod Liver Oil (or other high quality oil) daily. You can start this regimen while you are still under the care of your cardiologist, and still on cardiac drugs. As you begin to get better, have your doctor wean you off the drugs, because at this stage, they will begin to be the source of your problems. Get off the low-fat diet and start on a Mediterranean diet with less carbohydrates (bread, cereal, pasta, desserts, and processed foods). This will lower circulating insulin, thereby reducing the blood vessel inflammation caused by high insulin (insulin resistance). This diet and the use of olive oil also automatically eliminates one of the real causes of heart disease—processed foods and especially store-bought processed vegetable oils.

Start an exercise program that may be as simple as vigorous walks. And if you have diabetes or osteoporosis, you will never get better unless you eventually start lifting weights. Resistance training (weight lifting) allows your cells to use sugar from your blood four times greater than any diabetes drug. It will also increase your bone mass 4 to 10 times more than any osteoporosis drug. Make sure you have a good source of pure water. Good water filters are worth the small cost to eliminate chlorine and fluoride – two poisons that don’t belong in our water. And be sure to get a little sun (vitamin D is critical for heart disease patients).

Resistance training is not nearly as hard to do as you might think. I highly recommend a great exercise book called Power of 10, by Adam Zickerman that explains a new slow motion workout that you only need to do once a week. For those of you that just can’t get yourself motivated to work out 4-5 times a week, this is the book for you. It doesn’t require any fancy equipment and also includes good information on a healthier eating lifestyle that you will actually be able to live with. You can buy the book at Amazon.com new or used for $5.00 or less. It is easy to read and well worth a few minutes to have a much healthier life. Maintaining your strength and increasing bone mass is critical as we age. All you have to do is look around at all of the people who are crippled, hunched over, weak, sick and unable to walk to see why you shouldn’t wait any longer to get yourself strong and healthy.

If you are concerned about keeping your cholesterol in a normal range of 200-260, there are several natural treatments available that you should try before beginning any drug treatment. You can ask at the health food store or use one of the products available at Costco like CholestOff or Red Yeast Rice. Red Yeast Rice is cheap and can be found in most stores that carry health related products. Give these natural approaches a try before starting a lifetime of drug therapy.

If you need any specific information on any of the suggestions in this issue of Real Health just send me an email and tell me what you need. I will get you the information ASAP.

Until next time, stay healthy and happy

JD Roma