US Business Week magazine article "Do Cholesterol Drugs Do Any Good"

[frankcooper]

I recently came across this article published in US Business Week magazine "Do Cholesterol Drugs Do Any Good" and although it was written 5 years ago it has some interesting views from industry that are relevant both pro and con. What makes this article somewhat rare is that its from a business magazine rather than a medical source. Please note that it does not specifically look at familial hypercholesterol

businessweek.com/stories/20...

[sandybrown]

Hello,

I am 67, started on Station 7 weeks ago. May be I should stip taking statin if below is true.

He found no benefit in people over the age of 65, no matter how much their cholesterol declines, and no benefit in women of any age. He did see a small reduction in the number of heart attacks for middle-aged men taking statins in clinical trials. But even for these men, there was no overall reduction in total deaths or illnesses requiring hospitalization—despite big reductions in "bad" cholesterol. "Most people are taking something with no chance of benefit and a risk of harm," says Wright. Based on the evidence, and the fact that Winn didn't actually have angina, Wright changed his mind about treating him with statins—and Winn, too, was persuaded. "Because there's no apparent benefit," he says, "I don't take them anymore."

[Aliwally]

This article has the sentence " Statins are good drugs pushed too far". I think that absolutely sums it up. Good drugs for men that have already had a heart attack (even Dr Kendrick agrees with that) and good drugs for FH (although Frank may not agree). Not good drugs to prescribe for a healthy population with no sign of heart disease, even if they are over 50 and have raised cholesterol.

[frankcooper in reply to Aliwally]

Aliwally, I do enjoy reading your comments and balanced views. I must agree that I do have strong views about statins although I am quite open to people with FH taking statins if a CT scan indicates arteriosclerosis or some other problem. I just feel that if we fix one problem but create another problem, then it is a zero sum result. In the same way I am very cautious about the low fat diet because it appears to decrease the risk of heart disease but increases the risk of cancer. I have been studying cancer for some time and out of respect for your helpful contributions to this discussion board I thought you might be interested in my cancer paper. Best, Frank

docs.google.com/file/d/0B4X...

[suki65 in reply to frankcooper]

Hi Frank i am new to this site but it is so helpful i am female aged 48 i was found out to have type 3 hyperlipidemia the genetic my cholesterol was 12.1 and triglyceride 5 .

I was very healthy before April 2011 ,i have 5 children all healthy ,i don't smoke or drink and never had any problems with health i weigh 8 stone 5ft1 and very active .

in 2011 i had raised yellow spots on my knees and elbows and my toes had started to feel numb out of curiosity i went to doc she referred me to a specialist ,i was amazed how he knew right away what i had he said i would have to be on statins and fibrates for the rest of my life .i have never taken any medicine before i dont really like taking medicine .

10mg rosuvastatin i was on went back 6 months later everything ok bloods down to 6.2 but had stopped coming down so i had no side effects he decided to increase to 20mg and try fenofibrate i had a reaction to the fibrates he told me to stop them ,i got horrible side effects from the increase of rosuvastatin i stopped tried a diet alone but my levels started to raise ,he tried simvastain massive side effects swelling to knees and ankles and back given medicine to sort that out ,my levels though had come down to 3.5 (can they be to low) i asked no they said .I asked if i should be taking coq10 no its rubbish the specialist said .

I went on pravastatin i was getting very low ,feeling useless and crying ,my bones were sore my arms aching and painful if i stretched them in certain ways ,my thighs have lost shape as if my muscle has lost its strength.my ears felt there where things crawling in them also

I looked on lots of sites Dr mercola one i wondered if my insulin had stopped working and wondered about my vitamin D i asked ,i was put off he said you end up going in hospital lots to check your insulin and you have no signs of that ,my ck was checked once they said normal ,my vitamin d i asked to be checked it's 17 they want me on tablts for that and calcium to get it above 25 ,they say thats right for England .

Anyway i have stopped taking statins against the specialist wishes he wouldn't listen i am intermittent fasting between 11am and 7pm my levels have come down from 7.9 to 6.2 in 2 months of fasting every day .

All i take at the moment is opti omega 3 fish oils my triglyceride was 2.9 now 2.5 in 2 months my arm is still bad until a blog i had read about exercise and it is true light exercise on your arm does make it feel better but i have just ordered ubiquinol i think this will help my bones ,but i dont know what i can do for my leg muscles do you know ?

Thank you and sorry it is so long but i think it helps to share things

[frankcooper in reply to suki65]

Suki65, it can take many many months for the muscles to repair themselves. Muscles and ligaments are notoriously slow to heal and that is why whenever anyone has skeletal problems involving muscles or ligaments it takes many months to heal. I had a frozen shoulder several years ago and it took 24 months to return to normal in spite of exercise, physiotherapist treatments etc. Then early this year my other shoulder froze up after I injured it, and whilst its 50% better, its been 6 months now. I just need to let it heal at its own pace which could be another 6-12 months. Very frustrating, so I undersatnd how you feel. Keep up the activity that you are doing, and also the ubiquinal is a good addition. Best

[Hidden]

The British tabloids also do similar articles like this one, on a regular basis. If you are seriously interested, always make sure it is a medical site before you even look. Try this one:

circ.ahajournals.org/conten...

[frankcooper in reply to Hidden]

I think the point you make about the AMA being a 'medical site' needs to be put into some context. The American Heart Association receives many ten of millions from pharmaceutical companies, and similar millions from major food companies. Many would say it is not independent. A careful study of this organisation shows it is heavily interconnected to the business world and the website shows clear bias. Furthermore, I think that publications like the Financial Times in UK and Business Week in USA are not normally deemed 'tabloid', certainly not as defined in my country which regetably has its share of tabloids. Anyway, that is my personal view, and dont want to make a big deal of this as the great thing about this site is we can all have a view and occasionally and respectfully we may disagree in our view. Best, Frank

[Aliwally]

Thank you Frank, I will read it!

[frankcooper]

Yes I really like your suggestion for the new title "Cancer: How the Low Carb, High Fat diet Cures Cancer"?

Thank you for that feedback.

If you now link to the latest version of the paper as shown at the front of the document, you will see the new title, and there is also an index too which may be helpful. Many Thanks, Frank Cooper