Statins (ie: Lipitor,
Mevacor, Zocor, Lescor, Crestor, Advicor, Pravachol) are cholesterol-lowering
medications prescribed for more people than any other drug type to aid in
reducing the amount of fat in your blood. It is widely accepted that elevated
cholesterol levels increase your risk of cardiovascular disease, although this
theory is debatable. Prescriptions for these drugs have sky-rocketed over the
past 15 years, with a startling 260 million prescriptions dispensed in the U.S.
in 2011 alone. According to the CDC, 600,000 people die every year in the
United States due to heart disease despite the fact that more people than ever
are taking these cholesterol-lowering medications. These people simply did not
die because they forgot to take their Lipitor.
Even more
shocking, at least half of all heart attacks and strokes occur in people with
acceptable cholesterol levels, yet cholesterol levels and LDL (Low Density
Lipoprotein) continue to shoulder the blame. If half of the people who suffer
stokes and heart attacks have normal cholesterol levels, then what caused their
heart attack? The truth is,
cholesterol and low-density lipoproteins are actually a pretty poor
indicator for assessing a person’s risk of developing cardiovascular disease.
Virtually all major studies on statins were paid for and/or conducted by the pharmaceutical
companies selling the drugs, or by scientists with financial ties to the
pharmaceutical companies. The studies that report a 36% reduction in heart
attacks for people taking Lipitor are reporting the relative risk rather than the more accurate absolute risk. In a large clinical study, 3% of patients taking a
sugar pill, or placebo, had a heart attack, compared to 2% of patients taking
Lipitor. For every 100 people who took the drug for 3.3 years, 3 people on the
placebo suffered heart attacks compared to 2 people actually taking Lipitor.
So, 100 people have to take the drug for more than 3 years to prevent 1 heart
attack. The other 99 people increase their risk of side effects for essentially
nothing. Data from one study showed that 1,000 people would have to be treated
with statins for one year to reduce the number of deaths from 9 to 8.
So what is a strong risk factor for cardiovascular
disease?
Homocysteine is an amino acid that derives
from demethylation of methionine and causes vascular damage, leading to
inflammation within the vessel walls. LDL or cholesterol can’t penetrate the
walls of the vessel and become oxidized unless inflammation is present. To make
a long story short, folic acid (vitamin B9) reverses homocysteine formation and
helps prevent vascular inflammation so that LDL or cholesterol can’t be
deposited into the injured vascular wall and become oxidized. Lowering your
blood levels of homocysteine greatly reduces your risk of developing
cardiovascular disease.
What can you do?
1) Supplement with a multi-vitamin high in
folic acid (B9) for the remethylation of homocysteine.
2) Consume only grass-fed, certified organic
meats.
3) Supplement with a animal based omega-3
fatty acid with a DHA:EPA ratio of 18:12.
4) Exercise at least 45 minutes per day making sure your heart rate is at
60-80% of your maximum heart rate.
5) Reduce your daily stress levels.
6) Get
your spine checked by a chiropractic physician!
Making sure your brain is communicating properly with the rest of your body is
imperative to expressing health and wellness.
References:
1) Antioxidant activity of vitamin B6 delays
homocysteine-induced atherosclerosis in rats. British Journal of Nutrition (2006), 95, 1088–1093
2) The Cholesterol Conundrum. Nutrition News
and Views,17(3) 1-6, 2013.
3) The
pathogenesis of atherosclerosis: a perspective for the 1990s. Nature 362, 801–809.
4)
Ross R
(1999) Atherosclerosis - an inflammatory disease. N Engl J Med 340, 115–126.
5)
V Buonacorso, ER Nakandakare, et al, Am J
Clin Nutr, Nov 2007, 86(5):1270-7; D Kim, JAMA, 21 Nov 2007,
298(19):2263-4
6)
A Kim, A Chiu, et al, J Am Diet Assoc,
Nov 2011, 111(11):1720-9
7)
A Merchant, S Anand, et al, Am J Clin Nutr,
Jan 2007, 85(1):225-30
8)
A Singh-Manoux, D Gimeno, et al, Arterioscler
Thromb Vasc Biol, Aug 2008, 28(8):1556-62
9)
K Ray, S Seshasai et al, Arch Intern Med,
2010, 170:1024-31
10) M Gillman, S
Daniels, B Psatu, et al, JAMA, 18 Jan 2012, 307(3):257-60
11) Robinson K, Mayer EL, Miller DP, et al. (1995) Hyperhomocysteinemia and low pyridoxal phosphate: common and independent reversible risk factors for coronary artery disease. Circulation 92, 2825–2830. Ross R (1993)
