Statin Hell or Statin Saviour?

4 months ago•42 Replies

Daily Mail today dailymail.com/health/articl... statins DO save lives.

So who do you believe? My latest blood test taken in January (not a good time to have it done) was as follows: serum cholesterol 9, serum triglycerides 1.1, serum HDL 1.39, serum cholesterol HDL ration 6.5, non HDL cholesterol 7.6

This is after a toe infection, a kidney infection and a virus type flu infection plus succumbing to Christmas cake and mince pies! I have in the past reduced my cholesterol by more exercise, avoiding cake/bread/sugar etc and eating more salad with olive oil but I do find it difficult to stick to these diets plus at the age of 71, exercise becomes more difficult than when I was younger. So do I give in and take statins or try the diet again?

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sos007Ambassador

4 months ago

Addressing the source of the problem is the correct solution. Pharmaceuticals are band-aid solutions that may or may not be protective. You should be aware that most statin studies were done on males so there's virtually no evidence of efficacy for females. Furthermore, at older ages, elevated cholesterol is considered protective and enhances longevity.

For exercise you can simply walk up to 60 minutes per day in intervals.

Sugar has no nutritional value, weakens your immune system, and harms your gut microbiome giving rise to hormonal imbalances that may ultimately effect your pituitary and thyroid functions. This may lead to a vicious cycle of health issues requiring a never ending parade of drugs.

One piece of coffee cake has about 300 calories. If you have a 1,500 to 2,000 calorie per day dietary intake, that means you will waste 14 to 20% of your daily caloric intake on food devoid of nutrition. Without this impediment, as it is stands, most people have difficulty eating a balanced diet comprised of a variety of nutritious food sources.

Focus on trying to get more leafy greens, nutritious fruits such as blueberries and apples, as well as nuts and seeds into your diet and forget the sugar.

Alzheimer's is now being referred to as type 3 diabetes because researchers are beginning to believe that it is a form of vascular disease. In other words, a disease related to the arteries and other blood vessels. Sugar and simple carbohydrate foods clog these arteries.

If you wish to have a long 'health-span' then you now know what to do. The statins will not protect you, in fact, statins are known to increase blood glucose levels and increase the risk of both diabetes and Alzheimer's Disease.

Read this: acatoday.org/News-Publicati...

Read this:

"However, lack of evidence substantially challenges efforts to reach optimal health decisions for the aging population. Trends in prescription drug use, even before the 2013 ACC/AHA guideline, suggest that increasing numbers of individuals older than 75 years will likely be treated with statins for primary prevention in the absence of adequate information on benefits and risks.9"

Source: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

Statins are designed to lower LDL-C. This biomarker is no longer considered the best treatment target for dyslipidemia.

LDL-P (particle number) is a better indicator of CVD risk.

To get this biomarker value, get a blood test called NMR Lipoprofile (about $100 USD).

In the absence of this test, get a blood test for ApoB and ApoA. ApoB is a proxy for LDL-P, although the NMR Lipoprofile test provides far more detailed and important information.

I used to take statins following open heart surgery but they caused severe muscle pain for me and I aggressively changed my diet and lifestyle in order to avoid taking them.

Sugar is a toxin when consumed over an extended time-frame, like a lifetime. Sugar is NOT a treat, it is addictive and bad for your health - it weakens your immune system and damages your gut microbiome and affects your hormones. When you understand this, changing your diet will not be difficult.

Good luck.

1 like

sos007Ambassador

in reply to KatyB

4 months ago

Sorry your link did not work. However, let's be clear - Canada's public health care system is just as restrictive and myopic as yours.

You have an option to pay privately for lab tests in the UK as we do here in Canada. Where we are restricted is in the requisition form which requires us to see a doctor. We cannot simply go to a lab and request a test.

Furthermore, to order these tests, you need to know about them to begin with. The public health care systems in Canada and the UK and elsewhere are behind the latest science due to their bureaucratic processes.

Therefore everyone needs to take responsibility for their own healthcare and not rely on the public health care system.

In the meantime, even without testing - we already know that following a low-carb, Mediterranean Diet and exercising daily will provide people with optimal health, in which case the testing process becomes a confirmation system for your health status, rather than a necessity for investigation.

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Concerned

in reply to NOWHARD

4 months ago

Thank you for this.

Unfortunately, the solutions you've hit on are relatively insignificant. The plaques result from attempted repair to endothelial damage. Excess insulin/IGF-1 provokes inflammation.

Did you see the hearing in Parliament on Tuesday regarding controlling carbohydrate intake? Tom Watson, Deputy head of the opposition, told of the need to recognise this, and how the Eatwell Guide is potentially harmful.

These arguments go around in circles, side-lined by commercial interests, but they haven't even begun to acknowledge the role of reducing fat from dairy or cutting fat from meat as the Eatwell Guide advocates, in increasing the demand for insulin and consequent stimulation of IGF-1.

Don't get me wrong. We do know that processed food is bad for us, but the waters have been muddied by condemning fat, when it is the cumulative glycaemic-load that has the biggest impact on hyperinsulinaemia and subsequently insulin-resistance.

The escalating rates of diabetes are just the tip of the iceberg since we don't even measure the excess insulin levels that underpin it; often people don't go on to develop diabetes.

Dr. Kraft did measure his patients' insulin levels, and found three-quarters had abnormal responses. He hypothesised that those people with CHD that don't have diabetes are simply undiagnosed (they have what he termed diabetes in situ; insulin-resistance).