Posted on 06/17/2015 9:00:12 AM PDT by Oldpuppymax
In a rather self-serving review article entitled “A historical perspective on the discovery of statins,” Japanese biochemist Akira Endo hits all the conventional and PC notes in his 10-page (including references) trip down memory lane. From the get-go, in the abstract itself he tells us that…
“Cholesterol is essential for the functioning of all human organs, but it is nevertheless the cause of coronary heart disease. Building on that knowledge, scientists and the pharmaceutical industry have successfully developed a remarkably effective class of drugs–the statins–that lower cholesterol levels in blood and reduce the frequency of heart attacks.”
We would expect nothing less from Endo, considered the father of statin drugs, had this article been published in the 1990s. But, appearing as it did in May, 2010, in the Proceedings of the Japan Academy, his astonishingly uninformed portrayal of coronary disease etiology; and the modest benefits of statin therapy–let alone their devastating side effects–give a whole new meaning to the term “Ivory Tower.”
Endo was inspired by the work of Nobel prize winning bacteriologist Alexander Fleming, who discovered the antibiotic substance benzylpenicillin (Penicillin G) from the fungus Penicillium notatum. As such, on his mission to save the world from cholesterol, Endo began searching in 1968 for fungi that might produce an inhibitor for Hydroxymethylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase, a key enzyme in the biosynthesis of cholesterol. Inasmuch as he acknowledges that cholesterol is “essential for the functioning of all human organs,” one wonders why he thought grossly interfering with its synthesis would be a good idea.
Indeed, Endo’s describing his search for a HMG-CoA Reductase inhibitor in the same context with one of the first–and still widely used–antibiotics is perilously close to medical blasphemy. Nonetheless, Endo’s work eventually led to...
(Excerpt) Read more at coachisright.com ...
Wow! Who to believe...
> but it is nevertheless the cause of coronary heart disease
Correlation isn’t causation. Just because there is cholesterol obstructions in someone’s arteries doesn’t mean cholesterol caused them. The question should be “what is causing the cholesterol to clot?”
Great. So I lower my cholesterol and avoid heart attack but my brain goes out early! Talk about Pyrrhic victories!
I stopped taking the Crestor (much to my doctor's annoyance) and decided to reduce weight and pick up the pace on my bicycle riding.
All drugs are a balances of benefits versus dangers.
I thought sugar made the cholesterol clot. Those on high protien, high fat, low carb diets lose weight and cholesterol.
I lost weight on a high protien, high fat, diet. (Cheezeburgers, mostly - no bread) however, cholesterol went off the charts.
I’ve had good results with Lipitor with no side effects.
Lipitor, Crestor both gave me muscle aches.
I had to stop taking both.
I switched to Simvistatin, but eventually stopped taking that too.
Want to lower your bad cholesterol and raise your good cholesterol without drugs? Do the following:
1) Eat about an ounce of almonds every day.
2) Have high dose Niacin (either buffered to avoid the flushing effect and/or with a large meal) - about 500-800 mg.
3) Have a glass of dry (or at worst, semi-sweet) RED wine a day.
4) Exercise for about 20-30 minutes, 5 times a week.
That is all you need. Pay no attention to Big Pharma and Big Medicine - they WANT you hooked on constant tests, constant doctors visits and a daily drug habit. My grandfather was a medical doctor for about 54 years, and his advice for staying healthy and living a long life was to “stay away from doctors and stay away from hospitals.” Obviously, he said, if your bone is sticking out of your arm or legs, or any similar actual emergency, then go to the hospital ASAP. Otherwise, depend on the body that G-d gave us all; with modern sanitation and looking both ways when you cross the street, most of us should live to between 80 and 90.
http://knowledgeofhealth.com/something-huge-is-going-on-in-cholesterol-world/
Statins have a lot of bad side effects, and they have not been proven to be effective in lowering cholesterol.
But they are the drug de jour.
Statins screw me up. My doctor has me on 2000mg niacin and 2400mg red rice yeast. I also drink red wine, exercise, and keep stress down.
Muscle pain can be a symptom of a serious problem. A certain percentage of people cannot take statins for this reason. I’ve been fortunate.
You do, of course know that the natural source of all the new statin drugs was... red yeast rice!
Thank You!
What is interesting is that my older brother took Crestor for 5 years and never had any side effects. He stopped taking them because he eventually demanded that his doctor give him a stress test(I think) to measure if he had any clogged arteries. The test showed nothing, so he stopped taking them. His wife was also a cardiac RN that worked at Georgetown University medical center. He works out regularly and drinks red wine daily.
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