I've done a couple of posts in the last couple of weeks (in one way or another) about the ineffectiveness of statin drugs. I just read another article quoting a couple more studies showing that statins don't reduce the chance of suffering from some sort of heart problem down the road. There may be some benefit for people under 65 years of age that have already had a heart attack. For the rest of the millions on statins, at best they are taking a placebo and at worst, they are taking a drug that will increasetheir chance of heart problems because statins interfere with the body's uptake of CoQ10 (which does actually help protect against heart disease). Statins are the number 1 selling drug in the world and, in fact, a few years ago there was a movement started to try and put everyone in the country on a wonder drug that included all the top selling drugs in small doses. This wonder drug would include statins. Luckily, that movement has gone silent.
Anyway, the evidence coming out on statins got me thinking about what the view from the other side was like.
First, I think that statins were probably created for good reason. I don't think that the pharmacy companies created this false drug knowing it was false. For a long time, there was a belief that high cholesterol caused heart problems. Now, of course, science is moving toward high cholesterol and heart problems being symptoms of something else (sugar and a sedentary life are high on the list of possibilities). They created statins to combat what was seen as the problem but now what do they face?
1. Last time I checked Lipitor was the #1 selling drug in the world. If you're Pfizer, do you go out and shoot your cash cow in the head just because it doesn't work?
2. If and when the tie between statins causing heart problems gets strong enough, we're going to see attorney ads on TV like we did for Vioxx and Phen-Fen. "Are you or have you been taking statin drugs like Lipitor? Have you had heart problems? Call now and get in on the class action suit."
In trying to reverse the thinking, not all of the blame can be laid on Big Pharma. Would the following conversation be hard to imagine?
Doctor: Well Mr. Smith, it looks like your cholesterol is up, VLDL is up, and blood pressure is a bit high. You're heading for a heart attack. What you'll need to do is lift weights 30 minutes a day, 3 times a week, and cut grains and sugar out of your diet so we can control the insulin response in your body.
Smith: Grain and sugar. Is that like, pizza and beer?
Doctor: Well, yeah. You need to eat real food and lots of vegetables if we're going to bring your cholesterol down.
Smith: Isn't there a pill or something that you can prescribe?
Doctor: The FDA recalled statins because they actually increased your chance of a heart attack but you could certainly supplement with Ubiquinol.
Smith: Can I take Ubiquinol and still eat pizza and beer?
No doubt, Pfizer and the others will be publishing reports on how statins don't increase heart problems but the bottom line is that if it turns out that statins are dangerous, the truth will eventually get out to the corporate media and become common knowledge. Big Pharma is probably hoping to hang in there long enough to find a different drug to take statins exalted place at the top. High cholesterol is an integral part of the western lifestyle and they are going to be looking for a way to make money on that.
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