The lipid hypothesis does not hold up. For most of us, cholesterol is kind of essential.
Denninger includes this quote from NIH about cholesterol-lowering meds:
As one of the comments notes, there are people who have familial hypercholesterolemia, and those appear to be the people who might be helped by this new drug.
Denninger includes this quote from NIH about cholesterol-lowering meds:
Lipid lowering drugs, particularly statins, are being more widely used to reduce the cardiovascular mortality. Recent studies show that cardiovascular risk reduction is proportional to the level of reduction of LDL. Therefore the American National Cholesterol Education Program recommends a more aggressive lipid lowering strategy for high risk patients with cardiovascular disease. This means that LDL should be <70mg/dl (1.81 mmol/l). Although cholesterol lowering to this degree is more cardioprotective in high risk patients, other possible complications may neutralize or even outweigh this benefit. For example; hypocholesterolemia was associated with increased risk of colorectal cancer [36], endometrial cancer [37], and liver cancer [40]. Furthermore, some other studies directly link the use of lipid lowering drugs to cancer development. The CARE trial, showed a significant increase in breast cancer [42], while the trial of Pravastatin in elderly individuals at risk of vascular disease (PROSPER) concluded that the significant increase in cancer mortality counterbalanced the benefit of fewer cardiovascular deaths [43]. Moreover; high cholesterol has been found to be protective against intra cerebral hemorrhage [76–78], therefore lipid-lowering medications may increase the risk of ICH (at least theoretically), and several studies have demonstrated that hypocholesterolemia is a risk factor for ICH [73–75].
As one of the comments notes, there are people who have familial hypercholesterolemia, and those appear to be the people who might be helped by this new drug.
And once again, you don't hear any apologies or humble statements from the powers that be.
ReplyDeleteJust like the meat and fat scare, the coffee scare, the wine n' beer scare, the salt scare, and the list goes on and on.
This is why, it behooves all of us, to do our own research, and read other opinions from other doctors whenever we hear of new directives from the NIH, CDC, or any govt. agency concerning our health, and how best to treat symptoms and even underlying causes we may face.
One of the reasons I like my doctor so much is the fact that he knows he doesn't know everything, amd that govt. bureaucrats definitely don't know everything.
He encourages me to do my own research whenever I he had to prescribe me a new drug, as we weigh the pros and cons, and other variables.
And this is good advice from my doc:
Whenever you take a new drug, pay close attention to the side effects, and don't wait for an instant to contact your doc or the ER if something don't feel right.
It may be nothing to worry about, or it may cause more harm or even death if you wait too long.
If you're like me, you might feel the urge to tough it out, but I have learned the hard way, that ain't a good policy when you are taking powerful meds.
That's very true. Having worked in pharmaceutical research, I know we would get unusual side effects -- what we logged as "AEs" (Adverse Effects) -- depending the person and their circumstances. No one wants to kill their patients, and the good doctors do they best they can. There is always a limit to what they know.
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