For a limited time, you can watch the documentary film “Statin Nation: The Great Cholesterol Cover-up“, which walks through published research studies showing that there is no lowering of risk of death from heart disease by taking statin drugs, which approximately 40 million people are taking, despite the FDA’s recent warning about them.
You can read more about the dangers of statins in my recent blog post about the topic here.
Some of the known dangerous side effects of statins are memory loss (transient global amnesia), type 2 diabetes, muscle pain and weakness and heart failure. Are these risks really worth it, especially when considering that what is now considered high cholesterol used to be considered normal cholesterol?
Dr. Johnny Bowden is quoted as saying, “Blaming cholesterol for heart disease is like blaming firemen for the fire”, and I agree. Cholesterol is the just band-aid that covers up the real problem, which is inflammation (a point that this film did not, unfortunately, make clear).
In case you’re not able to watch this hour-long film, here’s its synopsis:
“We are told that cholesterol is a major cause of heart disease. At least 40 million people are currently taking cholesterol-lowering medications, known as statins, and millions more people are avoiding foods that contain saturated fat and cholesterol.
The basic idea is that dietary saturated fat raises cholesterol levels, and these two substances somehow clog-up our arteries, causing a heart attack. This idea is often referred to as the diet-heart hypothesis.
However, a numbers of doctors and researchers have been challenging this hypothesis for decades, and the latest heart disease statistics reveal some alarming facts. Such as:
● People with high cholesterol tend to live longer
● People with heart disease tend to have low levels of cholesterol
● Cholesterol-lowering of a population does not reduce the rate of heart disease
In addition, despite their widespread use, and description as “wonder drugs” statin medications do not extend life for the majority of people who take them.
Cholesterol-lowering has become a huge global industry, generating at least $29 billion each year. Have the facts about heart disease, cholesterol and cholesterol medications been distorted by pharmaceutical companies and food manufacturers keen to increase their profits?
If the focus on cholesterol has been a mistake, then the greatest cost is associated with the lost opportunity to tackle heart disease.”
