Statins and Cholesterol

STATINS, THE WONDER DRUG AND CHOLESTEROL.

Statins have been hailed as the wonder drug of our time and their promotion has been colossal. They are now taken by around seven million people in the United Kingdom and many are taking them as a prophylactic since they are in good health. Statins like the cosmetic drug, Botox also weaken muscles. This can sometimes lead to muscle breakdown and a dangerous condition known as rhabddomyolosis.

Well known brand names of statins include Baycol made by Bayer and Liptor manufactured by Pfizer. Statins have been hailed as wonder drugs that reduce cholesterol in the arteries. The premise is that cholesterol build up, known as artherosclerosis can lead to death from heart attack as the flow of blood is impeded through the major blood vessels. These fatty deposits inside arterial blood vessels are known as atheromas and have attracted the attention of many companies eager to produce drugs to dissolve them. The class of drugs designed to do this is the statin group. Cholesterol is lowered by statins but the effects are not all beneficial. This is because cholesterol is a very essential component of the body and brain. Users of statins have complained of memory loss and marked cognitive decline. This is because cholesterol is an essential part of the fatty myelin sheath that surrounds nerve fibres and helps to produce synapses in the brain that produce and store memory. Therefore far from being a villain, cholesterol is in fact vital to our well being and intellect. Apart from memory problems users of statins may experience severe muscle pains and cramps. This is partly due to deterioration of myelin sheaths affecting the nerves supplying the muscles. Some long term users have ended up needing walking sticks or even wheelchairs due to statin induced neuropathy. Cholesterol is also imperative for healthy muscle function and statins have been shown to induce a potentially fatal condition known as rhabdomyolosis. This condition is caused by the rapid breakdown in muscle tissue and was first noted in crush victims of earthquakes. Damage to muscle fibres causes muscle breakdown products to be released into the bloodstream where they can clog up the fine tubules in the kidneys. This can lead to kidney failure. There are many factors that can lead to this syndrome and statins are now on this list. So if the muscle damage is allowed to progress unchecked it can result in fatal renal failure. The liver manufactures cholesterol to produce sex hormones and statins interfere with this process. This has resulted in problems with sexual dysfunction and low libido in those taking statins.  A little known fact is that cholesterol is essential for the manufacture of steroids found in sex hormones. A rich source of cholesterol is egg yolk. Eating soft boiled eggs will not harm your health but may substantially improve your sex life and cognitive function.

There is a school of respected medical thought that cholesterol is a very important substance in the body and has been wrongly implicated as being a cause of heart disease (Kendrick 2007).Therefore although there is still no absolute consensus that cholesterol is a bad substance to be avoided statins continue to be freely prescribed. The NHS spends one billion pounds a year in the U.K. prescribing statins. Currently there are around seven million people in England who are taking statins. This is an enormous number and recently a study led by Dr. Taylor working in the London School of Hygeine and Tropical Medicine has questioned whether it is advisable that statins are routinely being prescribed to healthy people as a prophylactic. It was also flagged as a concern that nearly all of the trials of people taking statins were sponsored by the pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer and Astrazenica who make Lipitor and Cresta brand names (Taylor et al 2011).  Industry sponsored trials are more likely to report favourable results for their merchandise and discard the not so commercial negative findings. This means that there is a lack of impartiality in the safety studies. The studies also omitted to include any of the adverse reactions noted and only recorded the positive findings. It is hardly surprising then that there have been some very serious side effects from statins including severe myopathy and kidney failure. There have been a lot of complaints of memory loss and depression among those taking statins. Could it be the case that the money is being wasted and possibly doing more harm than good? The promotion of pharmaceutical products is pervasive and powerful. It seems that evidence of potential harm from pharmaceuticals is being casually overlooked in the pursuit of profits.

A persuasive school of thought believes that inflammation of blood vessels is caused by a variety of agents including infections and exposure to traffic fumes. These emissions from petrol and diesel contain highly noxious components such as benzene, carbon monoxide, and minute ultrafine particulates. Children are especially at risk of inhaling these particles known as PM10 because their height puts them directly in line with the exhaust emissions (Shukman 2009). These are inhaled in the lung and dissolve in the bloodstream where they then cause vascular problems. These can affect the entire body including the brain and over 300 000 premature deaths are caused annually in the EU by this insidious particulate matter (Campbell et al 2009). This finding would explain why artheromas are rare in rural cultures such as the Masai (Kendrick 2007). Despite their very high fat diet people living a more natural lifestyle rarely suffer from the ailments of urban society. Taking a pill to reduce cholesterol may seem an attractive panacea but the implication of these studies is that it is our generally polluted environment that needs attention. A Harvard medical study (Harvard 2008) found that women do not benefit at from taking statins yet G.P. s continue to prescribe them.