Statins - What Big Pharma Doesn't Want You to Know

I believe it was back in 2009 when I was a guest on KSCO Radio's The Wellness Hour with Bernie Owens where I discussed statin drugs and what the big pharmaceutical companies don't want us to know. Here is the audio from that show:


For more articles on statins and cholesterol,
visit my CampaignForNutrition Blog


Studies cited on the radio program:

If reducing cholesterol levels lowers the risk of heart disease you would assume that people who lower their cholesterol levels will live longer compared to those who do not lower cholesterol levels. The most important statistic of any study is the mortality rate – how many are alive at the end of the study.

Let’s take a close look at the mortality rate of the five studies cited by the American Heart Association.

  1. Heart Protection Study (2002) Over 20,000 adults in UK age 40-80 who were at a high risk for heart disease were followed for 5 years.  They were divided into 2 groups. A placebo group and a group getting simvistatin 40mg/day. At the end of 5 years the placebo group had an 85.4% chance of survival. The statin group had an 87.1% chance of survival. That is not even a 2% difference. In fact the Doctor involved in the study wrote “Low cholesterol concentrations have been related to depression, cognitive impairment, and suppression of the immune system. Does a reduction of 1.7% in mortality balance these risks?” Funny that wasn’t mentioned by the American Heart Association.
  2. Prosper (2002) 5804 adults were examined to look at the effect of pravastatin versus placebo in the risk of developing heart disease and stroke. At the end of the 3 year trial the placebo group had 89.5% alive compared to the treatment group of 89.7% alive. That is only 2 tenths of a percent difference. This is not even statistically significant. As a side note cancer was significantly increased in the treatment group.
  3. ALLHAT (2003) 10,355 adults over 55 were randomized to receive either pravastatin or usual care (which means diet and lifestyle changes). At the end of 6 years 84.7% of the “usual care” group was still alive compared to 85.1% of the statin group. That is again less than 1% difference. Not statistically significant.
  4. ASCOT-LLA 19,342 high blood pressure patients between 40 and 79 with risk factors of cardiovascular disease. The statin group in this case did have reduce the number of cardiac events compared to the placebo group however at the end of 3.3 years 95.9% of the placebo group were still alive compared to 96.4% of the statin group. Only ½ % difference.
  5. PROVE-IT 4,162 patients who had a heart attack or angina were given either atorvastatin or pravastatin. In this study there was no placebo group. The absolute reduction in death of atorvastatin was 2.2% versus 3.2% from pravastatin.

So when we look at these studies the reduction in the risk of death was insignificant. Does this insignificant change in death rate warrant the increased risks of side effects from statins? 

Let’s look at some other studies and what the outcomes of low cholesterol compared to higher cholesterol was:
  • In women of all ages and men over 55, higher cholesterol levels may actually result in a decreased mortality (Q J Med 2003;96:927-34)
  • One study showed that in the elderly female, a lower cholesterol level (less than 155mg/dl) was associated with  5.2 times higher death rate as compared to a woman with a cholesterol level of 272mg/dl (Lancet 1:868-870. 1989)
  • Breast cancer rates in humans that took statins were shown to increase by 1,200% (relative risk)
  • JAMA reported on a study of 5,170 subjects taking a statin versus 5,185 subjects treated with "usual care" (lifestyle changes) found that the statin did reduce cholesterol however (not widely reported) the mortality rate between the 2 groups was nearly identical (so why take the statin with all its side effects) also the coronary heart disease rates were not different between the control group and the statin group (JAMA Dec 18, 2002 18;288:2998-3007)
  • The Framingham study (one of the longest ongoing studies on heart disease) reports after 30 years of follow up, there is no increased overall mortality with subjects with high cholesterol for those over 50. Furthermore, researchers reported that FALLING cholesterol levels were found to increase the cardiovascular death rate - a 14% increase for every 1mg/dl drop in cholesterol. (JAMA Vol 257. No 16, 4.24.1987)
  • A study of 11,563 subjects found that those with cholesterol below 160mg/dl had 49% increases in all-cause mortality as compared to those subjects with a cholesterol level over 160mg/dl. Non cardiac death increased 2.27 times in the low cholesterol group compared to the control group (Eur Heart Journal 1997 18, 52-59)
  • In 977 elderly patients (>70 y/o) studied, researchers found no correlation between elevated cholesterol levels and increases in mortality from coronary heart disease, all-cause mortality or hospitalization from heart attacks or angina. (JAMA Vol 272 No 17 Nov 2, 1994)
  • Studies have found a correlation with low cholesterol levels and increased risk of mortality from cancer of the lung, liver, pancreas and bone marrow as well as increased risk of death from respiratory, hepatic and digestive disease (Arch. Intern. Med 192;152. 1490=1500)
  • A study of 5,491 men aged 45-68 y/o found that falling cholesterol levels from 180-239mg/dl down to less than 180mg/dl were associated with a 30% higher risk of all-cause mortality and a significant increased risk of death from cancers of the esophagus, prostate, and bone marrow (Circulation 1995;92:2396-2403)
So as seen above the overall mortality rate of taking statins compared to placebo is insignificant. Further the increased risk for mortality from other causes is increased in the lowered cholesterol group. So what exactly does statins do and why does it seem to decrease cardiovascular events?



Learn the better indicator of heart disease risk than just your total cholesterol - plus the dangers of statins and the need to supplement with CoQ10 if you're taking these cholesterol-lowering drugs.

Weight Management, Why Do Diets Fail, and How to Have Success.

Weight Management, Why Do Diets Fail, and How to Have Success.


Hello, I’m Keith Abell. I’m a pharmacist, wellness consultant, and Senior Executive Marketing Director with Youngevity Essential Life Sciences. I have been a pharmacist now since 1995 and I have worked in many practice settings in my career. In all those practice settings I have seen one common thread, we are very good at managing diseases, however, other than infectious diseases we don’t do a very good job at getting people healthier. I became a pharmacist because I wanted to help people get better and overcome their medical conditions. Since this was not happening, about 10 years ago I began looking at other approaches to wellness and I discovered that there are other ways, ways that the big pharmaceutical companies hope we never discover.

You see the human body was divinely designed, when given the proper building blocks, all 90 essential nutrients, to heal and repair itself. Think about it, when you cut your hand you don’t have to tell the body what to do, it already knows how to repair the cut. When you fracture a bone there’s no magic drug to heal it. The doctor supports the bone to prevent further damage and your body heals itself. When given all 90 of the essential nutrients the body needs at doses according to your body weight, you give your body all it needs to support and promote the body’s ability to repair itself. I call these essential nutrients 90 for life because we need them all our life to a have a lifetime of disease free living.

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During my wellness research I met Dr. Joel Wallach, a pioneer in the science of nutrition and supplementation. Dr. Wallach is a Veterinarian, Pathologist and Naturopathic Physician. Through his research in Veterinarian Medicine he discovered that over 900 diseases in animals can be prevented or cured through proper supplementation. The veterinary nutrition industry also discovered, that by manipulating the amount of nutrition added to or eliminated from the feed, they can cause the animals to gain weight more rapidly. Fattening them up quicker so they can be sold to the slaughter houses sooner.

It was this same research that led Dr. Wallach to find the key to proper weight management. The missing link that most weight loss programs completely overlook. Supplementing with all 90 known essential nutrients. Not a one size fits all formula, but based on the individuals body weight, just like they do in the veterinary nutrition industry.

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I have compiled all this information and I have posted the information in this video, an e-book version is coming soon. This is going to be an interesting look at weight management, why diets fail, and what to do to overcome the failures in order to have success in managing ones weight. I purposely used the words “weight management” because the primary goal is not just to lose weight but also to keep it off.

Throughout this video we will explore what has led us to become one of the most obese peoples in recorded history. We will look into some of the different diet programs out there and discuss why aspects of the diets may or may not work. Finally we will look at what needs to be done so people will not only have success with weight loss; but also how to keep the weight off once it is lost.

I hope you enjoy the video. For more information complete the contact form on this page.

Statins - What Big Pharma Doesn't Want You to Know - Post 482

I believe it was back in 2009 when I was a guest on KSCO Radio's The Wellness Hour with Bernie Owens where I discussed statin drugs and what the big pharmaceutical companies don't want us to know. Here is the audio from that show:



For more articles on statins and cholesterol,
visit my CampaignForNutrition Blog


A Billion Dollar Decision That's Not Good For Your Health

I feel compelled to do a post today in response to medical news that
is all over the news wires today about statin drugs, that's the class
of drugs that lower your cholesterol levels. The LA Times Headline
says "about 70 million Americans could take statins under new
guidelines"

Let me just read the first few paragraphs of the article,

"The number of Americans taking cholesterol-lowering statin drugs is
set to double under new guidelines unveiled Tuesday by the American
College of Cardiology and the American Heart Assn.

The goal of prescribing statins to as many as 70 million people is to
reduce the incidence of heart attacks and strokes in the United
States, not merely to get patient's LDL cholesterol – the "bad" kind
that's most closely linked to disease risk – into an ideal range,
experts said.

The new game plan for statins represents a stark shift from approaches
embraced by cardiologists and primary care physicians for most of the
past decade. Now, doctors will be urged to treat a wider range of
healthier patients, including those likely to suffer stroke or heart
disease as they age.

The new guidelines distinguish between patients who would benefit most
from high-dose statin therapy and those who can take a lower dose less
likely to cause side effects, such as muscle fatigue, a slight rise in
blood sugar and, in rare cases, hemorrhagic strokes and a toxic
breakdown of muscle tissue called rhabdomyolysis.
Cholesterol is essential for digestion, hormonal balance and cell
function, but at high concentrations can gum up arteries. Statins
reduce cholesterol by blocking the liver's production of the waxy
substance. Americans spent $21.3 billion on cholesterol-lowering
medications in 2010, including statins marketed under such brand names
as Crestor, Lipitor and Zocor.

Under the new guidelines, physicians should prescribe statin
medications to all patients with high odds of suffering a heart attack
or stroke in the short-term — that is, those who have had such an
event already, patients with Type 2 diabetes, and those with
exceptionally high levels of LDL cholesterol linked to familial risk.
But the guidelines also recommend that patients with a 7.5% risk of
suffering a stroke or heart attack over the next decade be prescribed
statin medication as well."

Not surprising the Wall Street Journal reports "AstraZeneca Applauds
the Release of New US Guideline for Management of Blood Cholesterol"

It's not surprising because according to WebMD AstraZeneca's Crestor
was the number 1 most prescribed drug last year with 23.7 million
prescriptions and total sales of $5.3 billion dollars. These new
guidelines are expected to double the number of prescriptions for the
statin drug class having a major positive impact on AstraZeneca's
bottom line.

Another amazing development, in a story reported in Endocrinology
Update on Nov 4 past American Medical Association president Professor
Kerryn Phelps advised the public via her Twitter account to consider
stopping their statins. She twitted her comment while watching ABCs
series called Heart of the Matter Part 2: Cholesterol Drug War which
claimed that the medical profession and the public had been duped into
believing that statins were essential for preventing death from heart
disease.
One of the studies that they used to come up with these guidelines is
a meta analysis by the Cochrane group that added up results from 18
different trials to conclude that statins reduced deaths from all
causes in people with low risk of heart disease. Their conclusion was
that if 1000 people took a statin over 5 years, 18 of them would avoid
a major cardiovascular event. The British Medical Journal in October
of this year argues that the "events" in the trials included
procedures to improve blood flow to the heart and who knows if the
person would have had a heart attack if this hadn't been done? It also
says that the side-effects of statins such as increased risk of
developing diabetes (about 10%) and muscle pain (50% more common) were
not adequately reported. It further points out that all of the
randomized trials in the Cochrane review were funded by the
manufacturers of the statins being studied. Interestingly, another
Cochrane review unrelated to this story showed that industry-sponsored
studies are more likely to find positive results than non-commercial
trials.

Let me review with you some articles that have been published in the
last few months about the risks associated with statins.

Oct 25, 2013 the Men's Journal had an article called Statin's Latest
Side Effects. In this article they pointed out that in a trial of more
than 46,000 adults, statin users had a 27 percent greater risk of
developing vision-skewing conditions than non users. According to Dr
Daniel Briceland, spokesperson for the American Academy of
Ophthalmology "The lens epithelial cells are very sensitive to changes
in oxidative stress" Since statins interfere with oxidation processes
the eye cells might not regenerate properly to clear away cataracts.
According to Dr Paul Thompson, chief of cardiology at Harvard Hospital
in Connecticut, "We know that statins inhibit a process that dissolves
collagen and other fibrous tissue, so it could be that this interferes
with the eye's ability to repair damaged tissue."

According to the Chicago Tribune Oct 30, 2013, when Mevacor also known
as lovastatin, the first statin drug, was being developed, animal
studies suggested that cataracts might be a side effect. On May 21,
2010 a British study reported in the British Medical Journal online
showed that statins increased the risk of cataracts and the risk
returned to normal within a year of stopping the statin medication.

A new study reported in JAMA Ophtamology online on Sept 19, 2013
showed that cataracts are more common in statin users than non users.

Diabetes, according to Renal and Urology News, atrovastin had no
significant affect on a combined endpoint of cardiovascular death,
myocardial infarction also known as MI and stroke among diabetic
patients on hemodialysis. After 11.5 years of follow up in both
groups, daily atrovastin or placebo, 90% of the patients had died
despite the fact that the patients who were given atrovastin during
the trial had an average reduction in LDL cholesterol levels by 42%.

In the New York Times October 22, 2013 Dr Hosam Kamel, the vice
chairman of the American Medical Directors Association, a group
representing physicians in nursing home practice, said there was
scarce scientific evidence supporting the use of statins in 70 to 80
year olds in their care. He said that the results don't conclusively
establish the benefits of using statins for seniors and he went on to
say there is evidence of harm linked to statin use in seniors
including muscle aches, liver toxicity, gastrointestinal distress, and
growing evidence of impaired memory, heightened risk of diabetes and
increased risk of cancer.

According to Dr Rita Redberg, cardiologist at the University of
California San Francisco Medical Center and editor in chief of JAMA
the side effects associated with statin use was not reported in
studies. According to her summary of the evidence for using statins to
prevent heart disease, heart attacks will be prevented in only 1 or 2
out of every 100 healthy people with high cholesterol who take statins
for 5 years while 1 person out of those 100 will develop diabetes and
older people are much more vulnerable to the side effects of the
medications. She also says there is some evidence that low cholesterol
is associated with higher mortality at an older age.

Back in 2009 I appeared on KSCO Radio's The Wellness Hour with Bernie
Owens. (link is coming soon) Back then on that show I laid out the
facts about cholesterol and statin drugs as I saw them using the drug
manufacturers own research to back up my opinions.

I pointed out back then that inflammation was a better predictor of
cardiovascular events than cholesterol. In fact I stated on that show
that cholesterol had NOTHING TO DO WITH HEART DISEASE, that it was
actually a warning sign.

I laid out how, when you actually look at a lot of the research on
statin drugs and look at the raw numbers, not the conclusions at the
beginning and end of the articles but the raw numbers, many times
there wasn't any real significant, statistical difference in outcomes
of cholesterol lowering from the placebo groups.

I showed that statin drugs actually do 2 things.
- it's true they lower cholesterol but
- they are actually anti-inflammatory as well and it was this property
that produced the positive cardiovascular benefits.

I showed that lowering cholesterol numbers actually caused many other
problems ranging from issues with muscles because of co Q 10
depletion, low testosterone, low vitamin d, increased risk of cancer,
and increase risk of Alzheimer disease. So it is really refreshing now
to have a well-known cardiologist back up some of what I said back
then.

See my blog post, "Truth About Cholesterol"
http://pharmacistkeith.blogspot.com/2011/09/truth-about-cholesterol.html

http://keithabell.info/2013/10/are-your-prescriptions-making-you-sicker.html

It’s “officially” OK to eat more eggs!

It’s “officially” OK to eat more eggs!

It’s “officially” OK to eat more eggs!


For years, Dr. Wallach has been outspoken on the need to consume cholesterol in one’s diet.  The U.S. government, however, has done quite the opposite for the last 40 years. As many of us know, year after year, health officials have warned individuals as to the dangers of cholesterol consumption; linking it to heart disease, stroke, and many other health problems. That is until just recently.
After decades of American Dietary Guidelines restricting cholesterol consumption from foods such as eggs, red meat, seafood and dairy products, the advisory committee is no longer considering cholesterol a “nutrient of concern.”[1]  In the article, “The U.S. government is poised to withdraw longstanding warnings about cholesterol,” posted on The Washington Post, the nation’s top dietary officials are finally beginning to get in line with what Dr. Wallach has been saying for years; although there is still much work to be done.
Since the American Dietary Guidelines began suggesting lowering cholesterol in ones diet in 1941, consumption of foods “high in cholesterol, such as eggs, has dropped drastically; while heart disease, obesity, and other diseases such as Alzheimer’s continue to rise. What Dr. Wallach knew, and shared for years, is that early populations that consumed diets high in cholesterol had much healthier, longer lifespans than current populations. As a matter of fact, since medical doctors began restricting cholesterol intake, Dr. Wallach has noticed that there have been at least 25 new diseases created; including Alzheimer’s, which only appeared 40 years ago. Cholesterol is essential for a wide-range of functions in the body, including hormone production and helping to produce fatty insulation that makes up the brain; reaffirming the necessity to consume cholesterol.
While the rest of the U.S. population waits for the American Dietary Guidelines to get in line with Dr. Wallach and the 90 For Life message, Youngevity customers are already on the path to living younger, longer.  You can now continue to spread the Youngevity Revolution and share Dr. Wallach’s recommendation to consume at least 6 to 10 eggs a day, for optimal health!
Remember, prevention is the key!  

[1] http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/02/10/feds-poised-to-withdraw-longstanding-warnings-about-dietary-cholesterol/
- See more at: http://www.youngevity.com/index.cfm/blog-and-resources/news-articles/it-s-officially-ok-to-eat-more-eggs/#sthash.3M7m1hlt.dpuf