Download Myths - Cholesterol , Heart Attack and Statins

MYTHS- CHOLESTEROL ,HEART ATTACK and STATINS
Most people react to being told they have high
cholesterol in the same way they would if they were told
that they had terminal cancer.These two words,
“ high cholesterol “’ strike immediate fear.
FACTS:
Cholesterol is so important that every cell in the
human body can manufacture it. The membranes
of cells are constructed primarily of lipids, which
play a vital role in regulating what may enter and
exit the cell. Body uses cholesterol as a kind of
band aid to cover abrasions and tears in damaged
arterial walls just as it does it for any other wound .
Cholesterol is nothing less than a ”life-saver” it is
used to synthesize several steroid harmones,
including estrogen, progesterone,testosterone, as
well as as corticosteroids, also the precursor
from which the body synthesizes vitaminD. Our
God – given “chemical factory”,Liver is the
largest producer and consumer of cholesterol.
Since it is insoluble in water and blood, it is
transported in the form of spherical lipoproteins
“. Depending on the size they are LDL & HDL
We have been
taught that there is”good”
cholesterol (HDL) and “bad” cholesterol (LDL)
which is a myth. The LDL and the HDL are
merely the
“carriers”of the
cholesterol.
LDLcarries cholesterol from the liver to whereit
is needed for cell repair and all the other jobs
that cholesterol does.HDL carries “secondhand”
cholesterol from cells being replaced back to
the liver for re-use . Neither are “good”or
“bad” - they are both essential.
Two recent studies (both in 2006 ) dispelled the
myths about LDL and HDL. The first, published in
the journal of the American College of
Cardiology, found that LDL was NOT a predictor
of greater diseases.
This was confirmed by a joint Canadian
and American group who also found that
levels of LDL did not predict heart
disease.
This is exactiy the opposite of what we have been
told for almost 50 years ! the combined resuffs of
more than 40 different trials which looked at
whether lowering cholesterol levels reduced the
occurrence of heart disease, analysis shows there
were similar rates of heart attack and overall
mortality both in the groups who lowered their
cholesterol and in those who did not. A study
sponsored by the German Ministry of Research and
Technology showed that no link exists between food
cholesterol and blood cholesterol.
Even more surprising , in Japan, cholesterol
levels have risen during recent years , yet the
number of heart attacks has dropped . But
how did we arrive at a place where, despite
voluminous research to the contrary, it is
accepted as “gospel truth “ high cholesterol
causes heart disease?
A trip down the memory lane....
In 1953 Dr. Ancel Keys PhD, was convinced that
high levels of fat consumption resulted in high
levels of heart disease. He conducted a multicountry research project and presented a
compelling linear chart, showing how high fat
and high cholesterol correlated directly
with
heart disease for six leading countries, Keys
played a little “ statistical trick” on everyone by
showing data from only 6 of the 26 countries
that he had assessed.
If he had included the other 20 countries
(such as France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Holland
etc.,) then his graph would have looked very
scattered and would not have shown a link
between high fat diets and heart disease. It
took twenty-five years before anyone
discoveried the missing data . By that time,
keys’ high cholesterol / heart disease theory
had become so strongly entrenched in the
population that it is now considered “ common
knowledge” .
Most of the momentum for the anti-cholesterol
campaign has come from major pharmaceutical
companies whith huge marketing budgets. Statin
drugs block enzyme pathways involved in the
production of cholesterol, thereby lowering cholesterol
levels. But that’s not all these drugs do. The same
enzymes that are also required for the production of
an essential compound called coenzyme Q10 . Not
surprisingly, lower cholesterol levels in statin users
are accompanied by reduced levels of Co Q10. Low
levels of CoQ10 are
implicated in virtually all
cardiovascular diseases.
Why do people who live in countries like
France and eat plenty of cholesterol rich foods
like cheese, cream, butter, and meats have
such a low incidence of heart disease? The
fact that natural, unprocessed foods have
healing properties. The French cuisine relies
heavily on fresh foods, which are much closer
to natural than the typical western diet.
The
French
never
use
trans-fats or
hydrogenated oils. They use normal healthy
fats like butter and olive oil.
The French paradox is important because it
substantiates
the
findings
by
countless
researchers that normal in take of cholesterol and
saturated fats does not cause heart disease.
As is evident from this report, the cause
of heart disease is NOT high cholesterol .
The major causes are unhealthy diet,
stress, obesity, and a sedentary lifestyle.
When you eat too many fatty foods and do not
get enough exercise the arteries in your heart
begin to clog with fatty deposits. Over time,
these deposits can lead to major restriction of
heart atteries, which leads to heart attacks. It’s a
very simple process. So never blame an active
circulatory lipoprotein for the disease caused by
your inactive sedentary life.
CHOLESTEROL DOES NOT CAUSE HEART DISEASE
Quite a number of physicians and scientists
are shattering the sacrosanct dogma of
cholesterol which holds that dietary
saturated fat and cholesterol cause heart
disease.
Dr.Uffe
Ravanskov,
the
spokesperson for this growing group says
that there is no proof to support this
hypothesis;
available scientific evidence
contradicts this claim.
Ravanskov cites a study by a group of researchers
published in the British Medical Journal (31 March
2001) which shows that not a single life was saved
by dietary changes to reduce fat intake. Dr.Walter
Willet says that the ongoing, longest running, most
comprehensive diet and health study ever
performed, involving 300,000 subjects, makes it
quite clear that the idea ‘low fat is good’ and ‘all fats
is bad’ has contributed to the obesity epidemic.
HIDDEN DANGERS OF CHOLESTEROL DRUGS
There is no evidence that lowering cholesterol
averts heart disease. Experts point out that half the
heart attacks under the age of 50 happens without
any recognized risk factors like elevated cholesterol.
“There is absolutely no evidence anywhere
that normal cholesterol floating around in the
blood does any harm. In fact, cholesterol is
the building block for all your steroid
hormones, which includes all the sex
hormones and the cortisones
Even slightly low levels of cholesterol are
associated with depression, suicde, and lung
cancer in older women…For most people, eating
high cholesterol foods does not raise cholesterol.
While a cholesterol-lowering drug will
usually do a very good job of lowering
your cholesterol, there is scant, if any,
evidence that it will help you live longer or
reduce your risk of heart attack
If the American public had even a clue of how
destructive these drugs are, they wouldn’t touch
them…Every information sheet on the most
commonly prescribed cholesterol-lowering drugs
will tell you that they cause cancer in rodents
when taken long-term in relatively normal doses.
It is also well-known that they can cause severe
emotional imbalances in men along with a wide
array of life-threatening side effects…The wisest
course of action is to avoid these drugs….”
Earl Mindell
CHOLESTEROL DRUGS – A DEATH SENTENCE?
Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), a vitamin-like substance,
is required for our muscles to function well. This is
very important for the heart muscle.
Healthy
humans under the age of 40 make sufficient CoQ10
in their body. But the elderly people have low
CoQ10 levels. As a result they experience fatigue, m
uscle pain, and possibly heart failure. Most statin
cholesterol lowering drugs arrest the body’s ability
to make CoQ10. They thus lower CoQ10 in the body.
Let us hear what an expert and researcher in this
field has to say:
“We are now in a position to witness
the unfolding of the greatest medical
tragedy of all time – never before in
history has the medical establishment
knowingly created a life threatening
nutrient deficiency in millions of
otherwise healthy people.”
•Peter H. Langsjoen, M.D
.
According to his researches, diminished CoQ10
leads to heart failure. Cholesterol-lowering drugs
inhibit the production of it in the liver. This is
done by arresting some enzymes that are involved
in the production of cholesterol. But the same
enzymes are also required for the manufacture of
CoQ10.
So when cholesterol production is
controlled, the production CoQ10 also is limited.
This results in lower levels of this important
molecule with lower cholesterol levels.
CoQ10 is required for the making of ATP, the
fuel that runs cellular processes. It is present in
every cell but is concentrated in every active cells
of the heart.
“Depriving the heart of CoQ10 is like removing a
spark plug from your engine – it just won’t work.
Low levels of CoQ10 are implicated in virtually all
cardiovascular diseases, including angina,
hypertension, cardiomyopathy and congestive
heart failure.”
- Peter H. Langsjoen, M.D.
Aren’t the manufacturers of cholesterollowering drugs aware of this great harm done
to the users of these drugs? Yes, very much.
In 1990, the drug manufacturer Merck
obtained a patent for their statin drugs to be
formulated with CoQ10 to prevent or alleviate
cardiomyopathy, a serious condition that can
cause congestive heart failure. But such
combinations have not come to the market.
The company has not cared to educate the
physicians on the importance of supplementing
CoQ10 to offset the dangers to the heart caused by
these drugs. Because this company has the patent,
other companies cannot bring out such a product.
“In the last 15 years (roughly the time that statins
have been on the market), the incidence of
congestive heart failure has tripled.”
•Peter H. Langsjoen, M.D.
Dr.Julian Whitaker recommends that statin drug
users take at least 150 mg of CoQ10 daily to avert
the tragedy.
STATINS LINKED TO CATARACTS
According to a study by Christopher Meir in Switzerland,
published in Archives of Internal Medicine, a brief
exposure to high levels of some statin drugs may
irreversibly damage the lens of the eye. Taking an
antibiotic like erythromycin in combination with a statin
drug may increase the risk of cataracts. Erythromycin
slows the removal of statins from the body and can
greatly increase blood levels of these drugs. A single
course of antibiotics, typically ten days, appears to double
the risk of cataracts, and two more courses triple the risk.
THE STATIN DRUG DEBACLE
The drug companies organize studies after studies,
earnestly hoping and praying that at least one will
show beneficial result. But no study has shown
the fancied good result. “No study that has
released its unedited data has shown that heart
patients reverse their disease by taking statins,”
says Owen Fonorow. And this is not for lack of
trying. Pfizer alone has financed 400 such studies
for just one of these drugs.
The shocking fact is that statin drug not only fails
to slow the accumulation of fatty plaque in
arteries but it actually contributes to plaque
formation.
Cardiologists at the Cleveland clinic organized a
study to assess the effectiveness of a statin drug,
Zetia, made by the pharmaceutical giant Merck
and Schering-Plough. ”Not only did the drug fail to
benefit patients in the two-year clinical trial, but
it……..increased the buildup of harmful plaque in
arteries.”
What is more, the company refused to reveal the
clinical trial result for a long time. This was a ploy
to keep up the sale of the drug. Millions of
patients continued to take this useless and
harmful drug. It is prescribed 100,000 times a day
in the US alone. But later under pressure from the
government the company disclosed the shocking
finding. “The drug does n’t work. It just does not
work,” said Dr.Steven Nissen, Chairman of
Cardiology at the Cleveland Clinic. See how
unethical and dishonest are the ways of the drug
companies.
LINK TO CANCER
Dr.Thomas Newman has warned about
statin’s link to cancer ( JAMA – Jan.1996). A
study published in Lancet (Nov. 2002) given
the same warning: those who took statin
drug had more cancers than those who did
not take. Breast cancer was found to be
more among the users of stain drug (NEJM
Oct. 1996).
Though statin drugs may help in
angiogenesis (development of tiny arteries)
they increase the risk from cancer; survival
rate is reduced (Brit. J.Cancer Oct. 2000;
Nature Med.Sept. 2000). As Shane Ellison
observes, “the reduction of heart attack
from taking statin drug is 1%; the increase
in breast cancer is 1500%.”