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Cholesterol Drugs?
by Mark Schauss
Introduction
Statin drugs do not prevent heart disease.
The market for these drugs that lower cholesterol (LDL especially) is suspect, because it is based on data showing a correlation between high cholesterol and heart disease. But as researchers like Dr. Ufe Ravnskov and Dr. John Abramson are starting to demonstrate, while these data items are correlated, one does not cause the other.
Numbers Game
When talking about statin drugs, a central concept is the Number Needed to Treat (NNT). This number tells us the number of people that must take a drug for one person to benefit. If a drug is perfect, then that number should be 1, which means for every 1 person who takes the drug, 1 person will prevent or successfully treat the disease or syndrome. For example, the antibiotic cocktail that kills off the ulcer-causing bacteria H pylori has an NNT of 1.1, which means that for ever 110 people who take it, 100 are cured of the H pylori. That's pretty good.
But Lipitor®, whose sales last year for Pfizer was about $13 billion, has an NNT of 16-23 for people who have had a heart attack or have definitive signs of heart disease. For those with a risk factor like high blood pressure and no existing heart disease or heart attack history, the NNT jumps to 75-200. For those with no risk factor other than what the medical community deems as “high” cholesterol (over 220 mg/dl), the NNT is over 500, with no measurable reduction in deaths or serious events.
For the statin Zetia®, the NNT is, astoundingly, over 1000 – which greatly questions its utility. The same can be said for the diabetes drug Avandia® which does lower blood glucose, but does not prevent any disease caused by diabetes.
In a Lipitor® TV ad, we hear Dr. Jarvik claim that the drug "reduces the risk of heart attack by 36%… in patients with multiple risk factors for heart disease.” Unfortunately, the actual statistics don't support this assertion. In the clinical trial Dr. Jarvik mentions, the heart attack rate was 3% for people taking a placebo, and 2% for people taking Lipitor®. This does not compute to a 36%.
The other number to explore is the percent of people who have side effects.
Accepting for the moment that Lipitor® only has a side-effect rate is 3-5% (as they claim), that means that you have a greater chance of being hurt by the drug than you are being helped. And reports by practitioners in the field indicate that the real side-effect rate is closer to 15%.
The Real Culprit is Inflammation
Cholesterol levels in people with heart disease are not much higher than people without heart disease. Additionally, low cholesterol (under 160mg/dl) may increase the risk for a stroke, cancer, depression, and suicide.
The real culprit in heart disease is inflammation. Lower inflammation and not only do you lower the real risk for heart disease, you lower the risks for a myriad of other diseases – from diabetes to arthritis, from cancer to migraines, seizures and irritable bowel syndrome to name a few.
Inflammation is the key driver for many disease progressions. From arthritis to coronary heart disease to cancer to neurological disorders, there is one common thread: if you control inflammation, you control the disease. Two key factors to determine inflammatory issues are proper laboratory testing and lifestyle changes.
Lab Testing for Inflammation
In lab testing, one of the primary markers of inflammation as it relates to coronary heart disease is C-Reactive Protein (CRP). CRP is a protein produced by the liver that is increased during inflammatory processes. People with elevated levels are more likely to have a coronary event than people with low levels. It is important to note that a single high reading is not a good marker for coronary heart disease – but a number of elevations would signify a problem. Crayhon Research, in conjunction with ZRT Laboratories, is one place that you can get a simple, in-home test for CRP, other coronary risk factors, and hormone levels.
What would cause an elevation in inflammatory markers? Toxicity is one possibility. So testing for urinary markers of petrochemicals is a good place to start; such tests are conducted by US Biotek. By determining if you are excreting chemicals like benzene, styrene, xylene, toluene, phthalates or parabens, you can find out where your exposures might be coming from. The Hair Elements test from Doctor’s Data is another way to determine possible heavy metal exposure. To help better understand the report, I suggest Dr. Andrew Cutler’s book - Hair Test Interpretation: Finding Hidden Toxicities.
Food is another source of inflammatory triggers. The best test I have ever found in determining which foods can cause inflammation is the LEAP MRT. Developed by Signet Diagnostics, it can pinpoint the foods that cause the body to release pro-inflammatory prostaglandins, leukotrienes and cytokines that drive the inflammation process. It was the one test that helped my daughter control her seizure activity as well as behavioral issues. It has a great track record in relieving irritable bowel syndrome as well as migraines, both of which are driven by inflammatory triggers.
Conclusion
If you want to become heart healthy, you need to find out whether your body is inflammed and, if so, what is causing it. Once you do that, you can reduce your risk of developing not just heart disease, but a number of other health conditions.
The basic tenet of biochemical individuality is that each person must be dealt with as a unique being. Consequently, saying that everyone who has a risk of coronary heart disease should take one drug or one supplement is erroneous.
References
1. “Do Cholesterol Drugs Do Any Good?” by John Carey. Business Week, January 17, 2008.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_04/b4068052092994.htm
2. Chance News 33.
http://chance.dartmouth.edu/chancewiki/index.php/Chance_News_33#Cholesterol_Significance
This article has been reprinted with permission from Mark Schauss. View Mark’s blog at http://www.markschauss.com.
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