Health Alert 100
“Statins are the new aspirin.” This quote from a popular news magazine makes my skin crawl. And yours should too.
“Statins” are widely prescribed cholesterol lowering drugs. They are making a lot people very sick. But high-priced marketing and half-truths have made statins the biggest selling drugs in America. It’s time for drug companies and doctors to end the charade, and tell the truth about statins.
Today, I’ll tell you what you should know before you take one of these drugs. If you have an unhealthy cholesterol profile, you can use my natural alternatives to improve it safely.
* Statins for Everyone *
Newsweek recently ran an article about statins that featured the above quote.1 It called statins the next miracle drugs. It couldn’t be more wrong.
Unfortunately many doctors and health organizations have also jumped on the statin bandwagon. Statins do lower cholesterol. But they do it at a price. Taking statins can have very serious consequences. They should be the absolute last option for lowering cholesterol. Instead doctors are handing them out like candy.
In fact, statins are the biggest selling drugs in the country. Pfizer’s statin Lipitor is the most profitable drug in history. And drug companies have identified cholesterol lowering drugs as a growth industry. In 1998, Americans bought less than $6 billion worth of statins. Last year that number grew to over $12 billion. And, the NIH has announced that 20 million more American need to take statins.
Statins work by blocking the enzyme your body uses to make cholesterol. Remember, your body naturally makes cholesterol. One problem with that approach is that your body also uses that enzyme to make coenzyme Q 10. CoQ10 is vitally important to your heart. Blocking its production is among the last things I’d want for my patients at risk for heart disease.
Also of concern, your body uses cholesterol to make testosterone. I am convinced that preserving youthful testosterone levels is one of the most health and youth enhancing strategies for aging men and women. When you artificially drive cholesterol down with a powerful drug you hasten the age related decline in testosterone with all of its untoward consequences. Organized medicine continues to completely ignore these facts even when patients complain of losing energy, strength, sexual desire and sexual capacity.
Statins have a long list of nasty side effects. Some of the most hazardous include:
• Liver toxicity
• Weakness and fatigue
• Potentially fatal bursting of muscle fibers
• Interference with CoQ10 production
• Kidney failure
• Diarrhea, nausea and abdominal pain
• Muscle ache
• Death
I have seen many patients after their previous doctor prescribed them statins. The statins made them feel “sick”, “weak” and “constantly fatigued”. Their doctor told them the statin could not do that. And that they dared not stop taking the drug. When I stopped the statin, they begin to feel better within days.
* Take A Stand *
Statins should be a last resort option, not the first thing a doctor writes on his prescription pad. Lifestyle changes like lowering your starch intake and an effective exercise program are your primary tools. There are also natural and safe supplements that protect you from heart disease and promote healthy cholesterol profiles.
All of the following supplements are widely available at health food stores and on the internet.
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Satin Alternatives:
Lower Your Cholesterol Safely |
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Supplement
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Description
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What it Does
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Recommendation
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Policosanol
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Organic plant alcohol
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Lowers “bad” cholesterol without side effects
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20mg daily |
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CoQ10
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Nutrients needed by your body’s organs to produce energy
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Provides energy for the heart, lowers cholesterol and blood pressure
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100mg daily
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Garlic
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Plant, member of the onion and leek family
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Lowers cholesterol, blood thinner, dilates blood vessels
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1-3 cloves daily
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Ginger
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Root native to tropic and semi-tropic regions
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Lowers and stops oxidation of cholesterol, blood thinner
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300mg, twice daily
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If you are trying to improve your cholesterol naturally, make sure to have a complete cholesterol profile. Total cholesterol is actually not very important anyway. High cholesterol signifies heart disease less than half of the time. It’s oxidation of LDL cholesterol and the size of cholesterol particles that can predict your risk. You can find more effective testing in Health Alert 45.
Also remember, homocysteine is a much better predictor of your risk of heart disease, heart attacks and stroke than cholesterol is. You can read up on how to lower your homocysteine in Health Alert 23.
Al Sears MD
1 Noonan D., You Want Statins With That? Newsweek July 14, 2003 p. 48-55.