Modern medicine has been prescribing statin drugs for 20 years now. But just recently the FDA announced that they have accepted the fact that statins increase the risk for hyperglycemia and diabetes.
So now drug makers have to amend the “label” on the drugs to have a warning that diabetes is a side effect of statins.
The first statin drug, Mevacor, was launched in 1987. It was followed by Zocor in 1994 and Pravachol and Lescol soon after. Lipitor went on sale in 1997, and statin use started to increase dramatically. If you look at the graph, the rate of diabetes gradually increased from 1958 to 1996. Then around 1997 the rate of diabetes suddenly jumps by 500 percent. (Source: CDC’s Division of Diabetes Translation. National Diabetes Surveillance System)
Private studies by the company that makes the drug rosuvastatin – you might know it as Crestor – found that statins could lead to diabetes. But you were never told. Another study called the JUPITER trial published by the New England Journal of Medicine showed people who took rosuvastatin had a frightening 26% increase in diabetes.
It was only after a review published in the prestigious British medical journal the Lancet showed that statins can raise the risk of diabetes by almost 10 percent that the FDA and its incestuous partners the drug companies couldn’t keep the lid on it any more.
The Lancet only found out because their review looked at most of the major clinical studies of statins, and also unpublished study results. They included the secret results of the Crestor study that the FDA reviewed but were never made public.
Of course, no one will actually get the new “warning,” either. Just like you were never told about the studies. It’s not like it’s printed on your prescription bottle.
But imagine what that means for this therapy.
We have this epidemic of inflammation, caused by a change in our diet to much higher glycemic index foods that are giving us all some level of hyperglycemia and insulin resistance. And here’s the main drug used for it, and it causes the same thing that’s causing the epidemic that the drug is used for!
To make things worse, in addition to the classic complications of diabetes such as cardiovascular disease, renal failure, blindness and neuropathy (statins can also cause neuropathy), studies show that diabetes is related to the increased risk of many cancers.
Meanwhile, you still have medical publications like my latest issue of Family Practice News, asking if the hyperglycemia risk should stop people from using statins.
Of course their answer is no, the risk is relatively minor compared to the benefit.
Making the Underlying Disease Worse: Are You “Eligible”?
But they’re missing the point. Because it’s the nature of the risk. You’re affecting the very mechanism of the cause of the disease in the wrong way.
Do you know how many people taking statins develop diabetes? A new study says there is a nearly 50% increase in diabetes among longtime statin users.
One out of every 100 statin users will develop diabetes. And a recent look at the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) estimates that around 25 million people take statins. That’s 250,000 more cases of diabetes caused just by statins. And who knows how much more hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia?
So what does the government recommend? Oh, no problem says a vice-chair on the panel of the National Heart, Blood and Lung Institute, that issues cholesterol guidelines. “It just means that you don’t give a statin to everyone.”
But that’s what they’re doing. Modern medicine does studies on what populations are “becoming eligible” for statin drugs.
They don’t even consider preventing the epidemic that’s causing the disease they’re trying to treat. The medical community and the FDA allow the food and drug companies to perpetuate the belief that you can eat whatever you want now, all you have to do is take a statin drug. Then they simply wait for people to get chronic inflammatory diseases…
…and treat the symptoms with drugs that worsen the cause of the disease.
They don’t seem to even know what the disease is. The Family Practice News writes: “No good way exists for identifying what factors … help identify what patients are at increased risk for developing diabetes…”
We more than doubled the percentage of carbohydrates that we consume compared to the way our ancestors ate. Plus, the character of the carbohydrate has changed to a much higher glycemic index. And you are told to avoid animal protein, even though it helps normalize your blood sugar.
Seven Secrets to Perfect Blood Sugar
That’s a huge problem that overcomes almost anything you can do about it. You can prescribe statins ‘til the cows come home, but adhering to the Western diet is still going to produce the modern disease called diabetes.
So what should you do to avoid diabetes and inflammation, especially if you have or are taking a statin drug?
The solution is not more drugs. The answer is to eat a wide variety of low Glycemic Index foods. Follow the example handed down by our primal ancestors. Choose foods you could have gotten either by hunting or gathering:
1. Eat fresh, low-glycemic foods. Look for grass-fed beef, small, wild-caught coldwater fish, beans, plenty of above-ground and green, leafy vegetables, onions and garlic, berries and other fresh fruits, nuts, and seeds.
2. Avoid high-glycemic foods. These include white potatoes, most grains such as rice, corn, and wheat, cereals, cereal bars, and low-fiber or sweetened foods.
3. Avoid pre-packaged items and fast food. These products contain high-glycemic ingredients and artificial chemicals. Avoid sweetened foods, and so-called “diet” foods. Foods like these turn on the genes responsible for weight gain and disease.
4. Drink green tea. The antioxidant in green tea, EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate), has been found to lower blood sugar levels just as effectively as pharmaceutical drugs – without the side effects. Find a brand that’s low in fluoride, which is toxic for the body.
For more information on the glycemic index, click here.
Also, you may want to supplement with additional nutrients. Lowering fasting blood sugar is our first goal at my clinic in preventing diabetes, and anyone with diabetes or at high risk for diabetes should consider supplementing with these three that I use in my practice:
5. Vanadium, a crucial trace mineral, mimics the action of insulin. This means it helps move glucose from the blood into the cells where it can be used as energy. It works by making cells more sensitive to insulin, which stimulates the movement of glucose into cells. It also inhibits the absorption of glucose from the gut, reducing damaging sugar and insulin spikes.
In one study, people with diabetes took a vanadium supplement for three weeks. After just three weeks the average participant’s blood sugar levels dropped by 10%.
6. Chromium is another important mineral to help control and even reverse diabetes. In one study, participants took chromium picolinate for 30 days. All participants had diabetes. After 30 days, participants’ cholesterol had dropped an average of 19 points, with LDL cholesterol (the kind that can contribute to heart disease) dropping by more than 10 points. Even more important, the average fasting blood sugar level fell by 26 mg/dL.
7. Alpha lipoic acid plays a key role. ALA helps to control and prevent nerve and circulatory damage done by diabetes. In one study, people taking ALA showed improved blood pressure, reduced nerve damage, and better circulation.
Chromium makes your cells more receptive to the action of insulin. ALA improves your body’s use of glucose. Vanadium mimics insulin, lowering your body’s overall need to produce insulin.
Together, these three nutritional supplements give you a natural but powerful support system to help handle more blood sugar and reverse diabetes.
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Hailken, M. “The Latest Statin Scare: Are You At Risk?” Forbes Magazine, http://www.forbes.com. Feb 29, 2012. Retrieved April 25, 2012.
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European Association for the Study of Diabetes meeting in Amsterdam, Netherlands September 19, 2007. “Green Tea Helps Diabetic Mice Much like Glaxo Pill.” The China Post; September 21, 2007. Retrieved Apr 25, 2012.
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Presented at American Heart Association’s Annual Conference on Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology, San Francisco, May 6-8 2004.
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Tankova T, et al. “Alpha lipoic acid in the treatment of autonomic diabetic neuropathy,” Rom J Intern Med 2004; 42(4): 457-64