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Cholesterol and the |
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A commonly held myth is that high cholesterol, especially LDL cholesterol, is a major risk factor for heart disease (known as atherosclerosis). |
Written by
Shane Ellison M.Sc.
© 2003 All Rights Reserved
Shane holds a Master's degree in organic chemistry and has first-
hand industry experience with drug research, design and synthesis.
1. With respect to women, researchers at the University San Diego School of Medicine show that no study has shown that cholesterol-lowering drugs lower overall mortality in women.
2. Researchers at the University San Diego School of Medicine UCSD also point out that high cholesterol in those over 75 years of
age is protective, rather than harmful and that low cholesterol is a risk factor for heart arrhythmias (leading cause of death if heart
attack occurs).
3. The European Heart Journal has published the results of a 3-year study involving 11,500 patients. Researcher Behar and associates found that in the low cholesterol group (total cholesterol below 160mg/dl) the relative risk of death was 2.27 times higher relative to those with high cholesterol. The most common cause of death in the low cholesterol group was cancer while the risk of cardiac death was the same in both groups.
In support of their findings these researchers point out that
previous studies found a higher increase in lung cancer when total
cholesterol levels were maintained below 170 mg/dl.
This has not stopped Pfizer from implicating that total cholesterol
levels should be at 150 mg/dl (see http://www.lipitor.com/)
4. The most widely respected medical journal, The Journal of
the American Medical Association, published a study entitled:
Cholesterol and Mortality. 30 Years of Follow-up from the
Framingham study. Shocking to most, this in-depth study showed that
after the age of 50 there is no increased overall death associated
with high cholesterol! There was however a direct association
between low levels (or dropping levels) of cholesterol and increased
death. Specifically, medical researchers reported that CVD death
rates increased by 14% for every 1mg/dl drop in total cholesterol
levels per year.
5. The Journal of Cardiac Failure published the findings of
Tamara and colleagues in a paper entitled Low Serum Total
Cholesterol is Associated with Marked Increase in Mortality in
Advanced Heart Failure. In their analysis of 1,134 patients with
heart disease they found that low cholesterol was associated with
worse outcomes in heart failure patients and impaired survival while
high cholesterol improved survival rates. Additionally, their
findings showed that elevated cholesterol among patients was not
associated with hypertension, diabetes, or coronary heart disease.
6. And finally, despite the successful attempts to lower
cholesterol with pharmaceutical drugs, the death rate from heart
disease has not changed over the last 75 years and mortality from
heart failure is more than double what it was in 1996. Hence, those
who think they are safe from heart disease due to lowering total
cholesterol levels may want to seriously rethink their preventative
efforts.
Sadly though, some of the most well-respected health practitioners,
medical doctors, and herbalists in the world have fallen victim to
pharmaceutical propaganda. This can be seen by their often
regurgitated, ill-thought out hypothesis that lowering cholesterol
prevents heart disease.
Meanwhile, people continue to die (2700 people die every day from
heart disease) while pharmaceutical companies enrich themselves with
the sales of cholesterol-lowering drugs. The CEO of Pfizer, makers
of the popular cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor, was compensated
33.9 million dollars last year (does not include the ten's of
millions in stock options). This equates to 2.8 million per month,
which is about $94,000 per day.
So, how does one successfully convince the entire U.S that each and
every person should have the same cholesterol levels? Easy,
pharmaceutical companies work tirelessly to promulgate the
cholesterol-lowering myth by conveniently citing supportive studies
while burying the unsupportive. As reported in the British Medical
Journal, Uffe Ravnskov MD, PhD shows his results of a meta-analysis
of 22 published controlled cholesterol-lowering trials. He found
that studies which showed to be supportive of low cholesterol were
cited six times more often than those that were unsupportive and
that unsupportive trials had not been reported since 1970! Further,
his research showed that those studies that were supportive of low
cholesterol were due to bias on part of the researchers.
With 12 billion dollars worth of cholesterol-lowering drugs sold
annually, the average American has become a cholesterol-lowering
drug addict without giving any thought to the potential negative
side effects. For instance, evidence from the cholesterol-lowering
trial known as PROSPER showed that while Pravachol may have
prevented 22 deaths from cardiovascular disease the benefit was
negated by 24 deaths caused by cancer among those taking Pravachol.
Numerous medical journals have shown that cholesterol-lowering drugs
significantly increase ones risk of suffering from not only cancer
but also CoQ10 deficiency (paradoxically leads to heart disease),
rhabdomyolysis, erectile dysfunction and loss of memory and mental
focus.
Combined, these facts render America's best selling drug useless and
in some cases deadly (make you wonder about the other less popular
drugs). As such, they are among the pharmaceutical industries
biggest secrets. You won't hear about them from your doctor, the
media, or a pharmaceutical sales rep.
To circumvent blind addiction to cholesterol-lowering drugs, their
deadly side-effects, wasted money, and finally, heart disease
itself, Americans must understand the importance of cholesterol in
the human body. Moreover, they must learn about natural medicine
which rivals synthetic drugs and lifestyle habits that have been
proven to prevent and treat heart disease.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: |
| Shane holds a Master's degree in organic chemistry and has first-hand industry experience with drug research, design and synthesis. He knows that American's want and deserve education, not prescriptions! Register for his life-saving, instant free eCourse which discusses the many natural ways to prevent heart disease. |
References
Patrick, Lyn. Et al. Cardiovascular
Disease: C-Reactive Protein and
the Inflammatory Disease Paradigm: HMG-CoA Reductase Inhibitors,
alpha-Tocopherol, Red Yeast Rice, and Olive Oil Polyphenols. A
review of the Literature. Alternative Medicine
Review. Volume 6,
Number 3. 2001.
Uri Goldbourt. Et al. Cholesterol and Coronary Heart Disease in
Mortality. A 23 year follow-up Study of 9902 Men in Israel.
Arteriosclerosis. Vol 10, No. 4, July/August 1990
Behar, S. Et al. Low total cholesterol is associated with high
total mortality in patients with coronary heart disease. European
Heart Journal (1997) 18, 52-59.
Horwich TB. Et al. Low Serum Total Cholesterol is Associated with
Marked Increase in Mortality in Advanced Heart Failure. J Card
Fail. 2002 Aug;8(4):216-214.
Ravnskov. U. Cholesterol-Lowering Trials in Coronary Heart
Disease: "Frequency and Citation of Outcome". BMJ. 305;6852. July
4, 1992. PP 15-9
Anderson KM. Cholesterol and Mortality. 30 Years of Follow-up from
the Framingham Study. JAMA 1987 Apr 24;257(16):2176-80
Uffe Ravnskov, et al. Letter to Archives of Internal Medicine,
submitted on July 20,2002
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