Last week, I reported on the sad headlines from The New York Times about yet another failed cholesterol drug called evacetrapib. In a new study, the drug reduced cholesterol all right. But patients who took it suffered more heart attacks than those who took the placebo. Plus, it did nothing to prevent heart disease overall.
The FDA approved evacetrapib, and others like it, because the drugs lower cholesterol, which they assume will lead to better heart health. And they also hoped the newer drugs would cause fewer problems in patients than old statin drugs.
But that’s not science. It’s wishful thinking, illusory prognostication and propaganda. It also turns big profits for big pharma. To claim these drugs have any use is like saying, “the operation was a success, but the patient died.”
Now let’s back up and consider the very real link between calcium and cardiovascular disease…
Yes, calcium makes tissues hard and sturdy, something you want in the bones. But the presence of too much calcium in soft tissues, like blood vessels, isn’t normal or desirable. In fact, this “hardening of the arteries” is the original description of cardiovascular disease.
Amazingly, a recent study linked “high-intensity” statin drug use with accelerated rates of calcification of both the coronary arteries, which supply blood to the heart, and the aorta, which supply blood to the rest of the body. This kind of arteriosclerotic abnormality greatly contributes to heart disease, stroke and all-cause death rates.
The study followed patients with Type II diabetes and cardiovascular disease who took no statins, low-dose statins, or high-dose statins. They found that high-dose statin users suffered significantly greater coronary artery calcification than low-dose statin users or patients not taking statins at all.
Of course, evidence already shows statins increase the risk of Type II diabetes itself, which is the major cause of cardio-metabolic heart disease today. And the FDA has even added risk of diabetes to warning labels on statin drugs marketed in the U.S.
Despite this disturbing evidence, many doctors still dole out these pills to patients with Type II diabetes. It makes no sense. No one should ever take a statin drug. Ever. Period.
If you want to learn more about how to protect your heart health without resorting to drugs, I recommend reading my special report called my special report called The Insider’s Guide to a Heart-Healthy and Statin-Free Life.
Sources:
“Impact of statins on serial coronary calcification during atheroma progression and regression,”J Am Coll Cardiol 2015; 65:1273-1282
“The never-ending story on coronary calcium,”J Am Coll Cardiol 2015; 65:1273-1282