The Truth About Statins

December 17, 2018

Statins are among the most heavily prescribed drugs in the world. But, sadly, this is less because we really need them and more because drug companies (and government organizations who rely on their subsidies) have cherry-picked supportive data to make statins appear to be life-saving drugs. They are not.

I am not a doctor, so I will defer to those who ARE for this newsletter. Here are a few of the basic facts about statins from people whose opinions I most admire. I highly encourage you to click on some of the links included here if you or anyone you love is taking a statin, or is considering taking one.

1. Out of 100 high-risk people taking a statin for five years, 98.2 will not benefit at all—but they will be exposed to significant side effects and complications, including muscle damage and diabetes (more on this here).

2. The 1.8 people that do benefit will live an average of 6 months (and a maximum of one year) longer than those that didn’t take the statin (more on this here).

3. These results only apply to the people at highest risk for a future heart attack: middle-aged men who’ve already had a heart attack (aka “secondary prevention”). There is no compelling evidence that statins extend lifespan at all in men without pre-existing heart disease, or women with or without heart disease (more on thishere).

4. People with high cholesterol tend to live longer (more on this here).

5. People with heart disease tend to have low levels of cholesterol.

6. The cholesterol-lowering of a population does not reduce the rate of heart disease (more on this here).

7.  The AHA says that statins should be administered to the “maximally tolerated” level.  But the sponsors of the AHA are the who’s who of the statin pharmaceutical industry.  Lipitor alone has been worth $125 billion to Pfizer since 1997 (more on thishere).

This documentary is fabulous -- just watch the first 2.5 minutes for the gist of it.

The idea that cholesterol over 200 needs to be universally lowered is just false. Diet, exercise and lifestyle should always be addressed first and, in many cases, that will be enough to reduce the risk of heart disease. To quote Dr. Aseem Malhotra, "you can’t drug people into being healthier."