How to keep your heart healthy—without big pharma’s “help”
I’ve written many times about how cholesterol-lowering statin drugs are not only useless for preventing heart disease, but they’re actually detrimental to your health. Indeed, they’re downright toxic.
In fact, research shows that lowering your natural cholesterol levels too much can actually increase your risk of chronic, deadly diseases like diabetes and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)—especially if you’re older.
And now, some doctors are finally coming to grips with the disasters of statin drugs. But they aren’t U.S. doctors, who continue to be seduced by big pharma into prescribing these worthless drugs…
That’s right—rather, “the British are coming”…this time, to fix the statin mess!
The chair of the British Parliament Science and Technology Committee recently called for a full, independent investigation “by scientists without financial or scientific conflicts” into cholesterol-lowering statin drugs. (Believe it or not, there are actually a few—in the U.K., at least.)1 And here’s what they found…
Despite statins, heart disease is actually increasing
The investigation was requested after receiving a letter from a group of leading physicians and cardiologists, including the editor of the British Medical Journal and the past president of the Royal College of Physicians.2 (All of whom I met in Philadelphia in 2002, when I directed the U.S. College of Physicians.)
Their letter pointed out that the decades-long campaign to lower cholesterol through drugs (and through diet, like low-fat and vegan approaches) has “completely and utterly failed to curb the global pandemic of heart disease.”
More specifically, despite sales of statins predicted to reach an astonishing $1 trillion this year, heart disease remains the No. 1 cause of death in the world. And the U.K. is actually experiencing a significant increase in death rates from heart disease for the first time in a half century.3
Of course, the U.K. isn’t the only country where statin drugs have failed dismally on a national basis. Back in 2013, I reported on a study of 8 million people in Sweden—essentially the entire population—showing that those who took statin drugs had no difference in heart disease rates compared to those not taking the drugs.4
The bottom line is that almost all adults in the U.S. and Europe who are considered at risk of heart disease have been taking statin drugs for years. Which means, if these drugs were of any use, heart disease should be going down, not up!
What really causes heart disease—and what doesn’t
The British letter states that, among the broader medical community, it still remains relatively unknown that insulin resistance is the most important risk factor for heart attacks—as well as for Type II diabetes, which, in turn, is the leading cause of heart disease.
Instead, the mainstream remains trapped in the “flawed” (and failed) model of heart disease “prevention” that promotes cholesterol reduction, low-fat/high-carb diets, and replacement of saturated fats with polyunsaturated fats…even though multiple randomized, controlled clinical trials (RCTs) have never found any heart-health benefit to reducing saturated fat, or replacing it with polyunsaturated fats (regardless of cholesterol levels).
In fact, the letter states that during the past 30 years, there have been a whopping 44 RCTs that revealed no benefit for cardiovascular mortality from various statin drugs—or diets—that lower cholesterol.
And in 2013, a huge dispute erupted in the U.K. when the British Medical Journal (BMJ) published two articles highlighting that the mainstream had incorrectly demonized saturated fat and cholesterol for heart disease.
The first showed why there should be a much greater emphasis on cutting sugars and refined carbs—as this approach not only helps prevent heart disease, but also insulin resistance and diabetes, as I always point out. And the second article showcased how industry-sponsored data itself demonstrated no benefit to statin drugs for the vast majority of people.
The letter also touched on a 2017 study of more than 12,000 people at high risk of heart disease. The researchers found no reductions in heart attacks, strokes or deaths, despite a 37 percent reduction in “bad” (LDL) cholesterol.5
The mainstream’s low cholesterol mania can actually kill you
Another key point of the British letter is that in two recent studies, traditional low-cholesterol approaches actually caused harm.
People who lowered their cholesterol through low-fat/high-carb diets had an increase in death rates when compared with those who didn’t lower their cholesterol.
In fact, the letter points out that what most people (including doctors) don’t know is that only people with genetically high cholesterol levels—greater than 380 mg/dL—are more likely to die of heart disease.
Plus, William Castelli, MD, the lead researcher of the famed Framingham Heart Study, said that back in 1996, unless so-called “bad” cholesterol (LDL) was greater than 300 mg/dL, “it had no value in isolation in predicting those individuals at increased risk of developing coronary heart disease.”
So, if your doctor doesn’t find that your total cholesterol is higher than 380 mg/dL, or your LDL cholesterol is more than 300 mg/dL, they should stop yacking about your cholesterol levels!
Which leads me to my next point…
The perils of lowering your cholesterol too much
What happens if you do lower your cholesterol through statins and diet? Well, the British letter cited evidence showing that people with abnormally low cholesterol—less than 150 mg/dL—do have a somewhat lower risk of heart disease. But they don’t have a lower death rate…which is what really counts.
And other studies show that low cholesterol is associated with an increased risk of cancer and other chronic diseases. So, basically, people with abnormally low cholesterol are just dying of something else besides heart disease. (In other words, of “competing risks”.)
Arthur Schatzkin, a late colleague with whom I worked at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) during the mid-1980s, was always very conscious of competing risks. In fact, in an analysis of the huge U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, Arthur found that lower cholesterol was associated with an increased risk of cancer. But the NCI quickly buried his findings, so he then focused his attention to other studies.
In addition, there are also deadly diseases associated directly with lowering your cholesterol by taking statins. Shockingly, the British letter states that it’s been well-known—but hidden—knowledge among at least two drug companies that statins are a direct cause of ALS, the irreversible, neurodegenerative disease that affected Stephen Hawking and Lou Gehrig.
According to the letter, the well-known researcher Dr. Beatrice Golomb and colleagues published a paper showing a 50-times increased risk of ALS among people taking statins.
Statins are also a clear cause of Type II diabetes, which, as I mentioned earlier, is a leading cause of heart disease—not high cholesterol.
And, as I’ve often reported, statins have other dangerous side effects, including causing damage to your heart muscle.
In other words, the list of statin side effects reads like the International Classification of Diseases compendium!
Statins are their own public health epidemic
The truth about statin side effects has been creeping out slowly, partially because big pharma denied access to original data. But in recent years—and as millions of unsuspecting people were pushed to take these drugs—there has been a torrent of terrible toxicities.
For years, big pharma and their medical minions downplayed the problems. They admitted to the well-known muscle damage associated with statins only because they had to. Because it’s painfully (literally) obvious and proven (a word I rarely use in regard to science) that statins cause muscle damage.
Nonetheless, big pharma still attempted to minimize the problem, inventing some kind of supposedly “rare genetic susceptibility” to muscle damage. But research shows up to one-third of statin users experience muscle cramps, pain, or weakness. That’s a lot of “genetic susceptibility”!
And, as I mentioned earlier, a couple years ago, research began to reveal that this muscle damage includes the heart muscle. So statins can actually cause heart problems.
There’s also the well-known “statin gluttony” effect…when people think taking a useless little statin pill will protect them from heart disease, so they drop the simple lifestyle approaches—like weight-management—that really will keep them healthy.
Why your doctor shouldn’t be pushing statins if you’re past the age of 60
The letter also touched on the relationship between cholesterol and age. It noted that in 2016, a systematic review showed no association between LDL cholesterol and heart disease in people older than 60.
In fact, there was a reverse association with death rates, meaning that the higher your cholesterol, the longer you will live.
After this review was published, I reported how the Journal of the American Medical Association and the American Geriatrics Society began recommending that doctors stop prescribing statin drugs to their older patients.
But not enough doctors have followed these recommendations. Many defend their cholesterol-lowering dogma to their questioning patients by saying they’re just following guidelines. (At the Nuremberg Trials for National Socialist Germans after WWII, their defense was they were “only following orders.”)
The problem, of course, is that these doctors remain unaware that the “guidelines” for statin use are based on flawed and failed research by scientists who often have strong personal and/or institutional financial ties to big pharma.
The British letter also cites data from John Ioannidis, a Stanford University professor of medicine and statistics whom I’ve quoted before. According to his research, a shocking 70 percent of health practitioners fail tests on their understanding of evidence-based medicine—like those 44 studies I mentioned above showing that lower cholesterol is not linked to lower mortality.
Professor Ioannidis’ studies also found that “the greater the financial interest in a given field, the greater the likelihood the research findings are to be false.” And these failed and flawed recommendations are then passed on to unsuspecting patients—particularly older people who are harmed the most by statins.
Why you need to take your heart health into your own hands
As always, I recommend finding a doctor who’s knowledgeable about cholesterol, statins, and heart disease. But at the same time, it’s also important for you to take charge of your own health.
And perhaps that starts with saying no to statins…unless your doctor can make a convincing, evidence-backed case as to why you, personally and specifically, need them.
Then, just say yes to a heart-healthy diet and lifestyle:
- Follow a balanced, Mediterranean-style diet that includes plenty of organic fruits and vegetables, full-fat dairy (including butter, milk, yogurt, and cheeses), wild-caught fish, grass-fed and -finished meat, and moderate consumption of red wine.
- Exercise moderately for about 140 minutes a week, total (that breaks down to roughly 20 minutes a day). As always, I recommend getting out in Nature whenever you can, especially as the weather warms up. Walking, hiking, swimming, and gardening are all excellent activities.
- Supplement daily with heart-healthy nutrients like 10,000 IU of vitamin D, a high-quality vitamin B complex with at least 55 mg of B6, 5-6 grams of fish oil, and 150 mg of coenzyme Q-10 (CoQ10).
- Meditate or use other mind-body techniques to lower your stress levels. (For additional guidance, check out my book New World Mindfulness. To order yourself a copy, go to the “books” tab of my website.)
I also encourage you to check out my Heart Attack Prevention and Repair Protocol. This innovative, online learning tool highlights all of the drug-free approaches for avoiding heart disease and stroke.
To learn more, or to enroll today, click here or call 1-866-747-9421 and ask for order code EOV3W500.
Sources:
1“MP calls for independent review of benefits and harms of statins.” BMJ 2019;366:l5380.
2https://www.europeanscientist.com/en/features/do-statins-really-work-who-benefits-who-has-the-power-to-cover-up-the-side-effects/#_ftn23
3https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd4vr7lvrvmo
4“No connection between the level of exposition to statins in the population and the incidence/mortality of acute myocardial infarction: An ecological study based on Sweden’s municipalities.” J Negat Results Biomed. 2011; 10: 6.
5“Evacetrapib and Cardiovascular Outcomes in High-Risk Vascular Disease.” N Engl J Med 2017; 376:1933-1942.