Every year, a staggering 610,000 US citizens succumb to heart diseases, making it a very popular opinion that anything containing high cholesterol levels is a high heart health risk.
For this reason, it’s only logical that people are now turning to specific drugs designed to lower cholesterol levels in the blood.
But then there is some bad news about this move. It turns out that one of the most popular of these drugs is not only ineffective but could also present a very high risk of cancer and memory loss to its users.
The drug’s name is Statin.
So What Exactly Are These Statins?
Now, statins are a family of drugs that are supposed to be prescribed so they can help lower the levels of bad cholesterol in the users’ blood.
However, studies conducted on them have shown that statins aren’t really good at their job.
In fact, according to a report published in the Vascular Health and Risk Management journal, statins have been found to work only 18% of the time used, meaning that these drugs are actually over 80% ineffective!
Now that is really bad news, but there is something else even more disturbing.
Their Side Effects
Apart from statins failing to do their job properly in lowering cholesterol levels in the blood, they also give rise to a number of other undesirable situations as outlined below:
- They cause rashes
- They cause memory loss
- They cause constipation
- They cause drowsiness
- They cause high blood sugar
- They cause diarrhea
- They dramatically increase the risk of diabetes (type 2)
They are also linked to rhabdomyolysis and myositis, conditions that are known to cause muscle inflammation and damage. Rhabdomyolysis has particularly been linked to damage to kidneys and even possible kidney failure and death.
Besides the above, statins have also been linked to cancer, with one journal, Current Oncology, finding that they actually amplify the risk of cancer in the elderly as well as those with breast cancer or prostate cancer. They also cause more tumors in those suffering from NCBI.
It has been found that since the use of these drugs causes an upsurge in the production of the pathogen-fighting white blood cells (T-Cells), the resulting effect leads to the crippling of the rest of the immune system, hence leaving the body more vulnerable to a cancerous attack.
A Special Note About Cholesterol
People started using statins due to the belief that the consumption of too much cholesterol caused heart disease. As a matter of fact, cholesterol has been blamed as the main cause of heart disease for so long.
However, one Dr. Beverly Teter, who deals in biochemistry (University of Maryland), begs to differ with that assertion and calls it a big scientific mistake. According to this doctor, cholesterol actually solves the inflammation problem, rather than causing heart disease, claiming that scientists wrongly concluded that cholesterol is responsible for the diseases just because they found it largely deposited on the vessel walls.
She says that it is the inflammation that causes the lesion on the blood vessels, and then the body deposits the cholesterol along the walls to prevent any more damage.
To lower the risks, Teter suggests the consumption of anti-inflammatory foods instead of just going for those with low cholesterol. In that respect, natural fats and fatty acids (omega-3) are a great food choice.
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Examples of what to eat:
- Edamame
- Pecans
- Flaxseed oil
- Eggs
- Walnuts
- Hickory nuts
- Wild salmon
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What to run from:
- Pie crust
- Cake frosting
- Crackers
- Deep-fried food
- Margarine
- Non-dairy creamer
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While it’s true that the scientific studies carried out have found statins not effective and have a hand in the development of cancer and memory loss, it is paramount to be more cautious of what you consume on a personal level.
If you want to greatly reduce or even possibly eliminate the risks of heart disease, then you should stay away from processed or deep-fried foods because they have been found to amplify the risks.
Via WebMD | US Pharmacist | Harvard | Health Line | Harvard Health | NCBI