HealthBeat News

Category: Drugs and Alternatives

  • Statin Drugs Found To Cause Increased Parkinson’s Risk

    This is Part IX of a multi-part series that discusses the statin drug controversy. Please find links to the rest of this series at the end of this article.

    By Nurse Mark

    StatinWarning

     

    Dr. Myatt and I have been warning of the dangers of statin drugs for many years.

    Are we totally against the use of these drugs? Of course not!

    Like most drugs, there are times when the use of statin drugs can be life-saving – but they are rare.

    For most people, a prescription for a statin drug is more about making the doctor feel good and making the shareholders of the drug companies happy.

    In our previous articles we have alluded to an increased risk of Parkinson’s occurring with decreased cholesterol levels, and that normal to higher cholesterol levels are protective from Parkinson’s. Now, research data from a surprising source is showing that people taking statin drugs are at an increased risk of developing Parkinson’s. This is in direct opposition to earlier studies that had show a weak protective effect from statins against this feared disease.

    So, why is this new data so surprising?

    Well, most medical research studies of this sort rely on the review of medical records, or patient surveys or questionnaires as the source of data. This study relied on a data source far larger and possibly much more accurate.

    Why more accurate? Well, is there anyone more accurate and precise and careful than an actuary for an insurance company? These are the people who use their data to predict, almost eerily sometimes, the life expectancy and causes of death of the people they insure. They are spooky accurate – they have to be – since the profitability of the insurance company relies on their skills at predicting these things.

    Dr. Xuemei Huang, MD, PhD, vice chair for research at Penn State College of Medicine, in Hershey, Pennsylvania decided to mine this mother lode of detailed information in order to do her research. She and her team looked at data from the MarketScan Commercial Claims and Encounters database, an incredible 30,343,035 people aged 40 to 65 years between January 1, 2008, and December 31, 2012 and found that out of those over 30 million people 21,559 had a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease.

    When they looked at the data for those 21,559 people with Parkinson’s they found the use of cholesterol-lowering drugs, including both statins or nonstatins, was associated with a significantly higher prevalence of Parkinson’s disease. As they further refined their analysis they found that both statins and nonstatin cholesterol-lowering drugs were associated with Parkinson’s disease, but over time only statins remained significantly associated with increased Parkinson’s risk.

    Now the question must be asked: Is it the higher cholesterol that protects from Parkinson’s, and that protection is being taken away by the drugs, or is it something about the drugs themselves that is causing this increased risk for Parkinson’s?

    "We know that overall weight of the literature favors that higher cholesterol is associated with beneficial outcomes in Parkinson’s disease, so it’s possible that statins take away that protection by treating the high cholesterol," Dr Huang explained.

    "Another possibility is that statins can block not only the cholesterol synthesis but also synthesis of coenzyme Q10 that is essential for cell function."

    We have warned for years that anyone taking statins must (not just should – must) be supplementing a high quality CoQ10. Even conventional medicine has conceded that statins deplete CoQ10.

    Dr. Huang went on to explain:

    "The increased risk of Parkinson’s is more likely when statins are first used, so we think it could be that the statins ‘unmasked’ Parkinson’s," Dr. Huang said. "Namely, people may be already on the way to Parkinson’s and when they use statins to control the high cholesterol, it gives Parkinson’s a push to reveal its clinical symptoms.

    "Based on this data, we think caution should be taken before advancing statins to be protective of Parkinson’s disease," she added. "The data are not clear yet."

    While Dr. Huang, in her abundance of scholarly and scientific caution, says the data are not clear yet, it is clear enough for us here at the Wellness Club.

    In our opinion, statins certainly may have a place in the treatment of some people with certain high cholesterol conditions. We also believe that conventional medicine, at the urging of Big Pharma, has set unhealthy low levels for cholesterol, leading doctors to vastly over-prescribe this potentially dangerous drug.

    Until more is known about the statin / Parkinson’s relationship we would urge anyone with Parkinson’s disease, or with a family history of PD to think very, very carefully about using a statin drug.

    And of course, no one should ever use a statin drug without supplementing with CoQ10.

     

    Part VIII can be found here: Statin Drugs: The Evil Of A 20 Billion Dollar Industry

    Part VII can be found here: Statin Drugs Proven To Increase Risk Of Cataracts

    Part VI can be found here: Statins Proven To Cause Increased Injuries

    Part V can be found here: Saturated Fats Are NOT Bad For You – Here’s PROOF

    Part IV can be found here: Cholesterol: Life-Giving Or Life-Threatening?

    Part III can be found here: New Research Into Statin Drug Memory Loss

    Part II can be found here: Trade Your High Cholesterol For Diabetes!

    Part I can be found here: Lower Your Cholesterol – Lose Your Marbles?

    References:

    Medscape Medical News, Statin Use Linked to Increased Parkinson’s Risk, Nancy A. Melville, October 26, 2016
    http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/870996

  • The Lifesaving, Liversaving Herb

    This Herb Saved His Life in 24 Hours

    By Nurse Mark

     

    Chat2Mr. Chat is a valued employee, part of the security and pest control division at The Wellness Club. He mostly works the night shift, ensuring that our facilities are well-patrolled and free of mice or other vermin. It must be a lonely job, and when we see Mr. Chat in the daytime he is quite vocal – which is how he came to be called Mr. Chat. Dr. Myatt named him Chat when she first met him and that tickled my funny bone since “Chat” is also the French word for cat.  Chat is a grey cat with a clipped ear, proving that he is a veteran of the Feral Cat Program. This feral cat appeared on Dr. Myatt’s balcony (yes, he climbed a tree to get there), and promptly adopted her. He has been a much-loved member of our family for the past two years. So imagine our concern when he stopped eating and turned yellow (jaundiced).

    This didn’t happen overnight. At first we noticed him losing weight but we attributed this to seasonal weight change. Working cats who partly hunt for a living and are not overfed often slim down a bit in the heat of summer. Then we noticed that he wasn’t eating and wasn’t hunting. He stopped eating entirely, and more telling, he stopped "chatting" to us. Finally we noticed that he was jaundiced. (Much easier to see in a human than a gray cat with yellow eyes!)  Jaundice indicates liver failure and it is a serious matter for man and beast.

    We aren’t veterinarians (nor have we ever played one on T.V.,) but we diagnosed Chat with feline hepatic lipidosis (feline fatty liver syndrome) which is a common liver disease in cats. Unlike humans who do quite well with intermittent fasting, several days of not eating in cats can cause this condition. Left unchecked it can be fatal.

    The disease has no known cause but it almost always begins when a cat loses appetite and stops eating, forcing the liver to convert body fat into usable energy. Humans do this easily; it is normal human physiology. Unlike human livers though the cat liver is not well-adapted for this task. Under fasting conditions, a cat’s liver soon becomes stressed and can even fail. In cats as in humans, liver failure can lead to what Dr. Myatt and I call a “negative wellness outcome.”

    We don’t know why Chat lost his appetite but we knew he was in serious trouble when we noticed the jaundice. He was going downhill quickly, barely moving from the same spot all day. Something had to be done to support his liver and it needed to be done now. Unfortunately there is nothing in conventional veterinary or human medicine that offers significant liver support. Lucky for him, Big Cat Momma (Dr. Myatt) is a specialist in herbal medicine and mentioned that the herb milk thistle is one of her most trusted herbs, performing miracles on the human liver. This benefit is well-documented and supported in the conventional medical literature. In addition, Dr. Myatt has had nearly thirty years of clinical experience with milk thistle. She knows and trusts what it can do.

    Here’s the "short course" on milk thistle from our website:

    Milk thistle (silybum marianum) has been the subject of hundreds of clinical trials, primarily exploring its role in liver disease but more recently looking at its effects on cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. It powerfully protects the liver from the effects of environmental toxins (such as carbon tetrachloride, acetaminophen, iron overload, mushroom poisoning). It is used in Emergency Room medicine in Europe for exposure to liver-toxic agents. Milk thistle is a powerful antioxidant, especially to the liver. It also stimulates liver cell regeneration. It has been proven useful for all types of liver disease, including alcoholic liver sclerosis, hepatitis, protection from environmental toxins, and protection from the liver-toxic effects of many drugs.

    Dr. Myatt said that in human liver failure, she would put a patient on a fairly high dose of milk thistle (1,000-1,500mg, 4 times per day) and expect to see fast and impressive results. In her words, she would tell a patient with a sick liver to "bathe it in milk thistle." Would it work for Chat the cat?

    Humans have different metabolisms than cats and dogs. A cat does not tolerate going without food for very long, yet fasting is OK and even healthy for humans.  We did some research to find out if milk thistle would be safe for a cat.  A quick search of the veterinary literature reassured us that milk thistle would be safe and beneficial. (Please always do such research before giving your pet something that would be good for humans. Some things that humans do well with can be toxic to our fur-babies).

    We started with a vigorous dose of milk thistle, one capsule 4 times per day. We used Dr. Myatt’s Milk Thistle Plus formula of course!

    In only 24 hours, Chat was noticeably better. He was moving more and looking perkier.  We were optimistic. We continued the same dose on day two and his  improvement continued. Today is the fourth day. Chat is eating, going up and down stairs and looks fairly close to normal. Cats typically aren’t happy swallowing capsules and while at first Chat didn’t have the energy to put up much fuss, he is now objecting much more strenuously to the four times per day dosing! That’s a good sign. The surest proof of his improvement is that he is talking — "chatting"— with us again.

    We hope and believe that Chat  will continue to improve and make a full recovery.  Time will tell, but for now it appears that the Milk Thistle snapped him out of liver failure and helped him regain his appetite. He now has a chance to recover from whatever stole his appetite in the first place.

    Are we telling you this so you will know how to treat a cat with liver failure?  Heck no, although if it is lifesaving for your cat one day, that’s great.

    We Want You To Know What Milk Thistle Can Do For You

    Your Liver – A Few Quick Facts

    What is it?
    Supporting almost every other organ in the body, this largest solid organ weighs about 3 pounds and is actually classified as a gland.

    What does it do?
    The liver carries out more than 500 functions! – Here are just a few:

    • One of its most well-known and important functions is the breakdown and removal of toxins from the body
    • Metabolizes many substances, including drugs and proteins
    • Breaks down carbohydrates and stores as glycogen
    • Manufactures glucose via neogenesis and works to regulate our blood sugar and manage our energy needs
    • Manufactures cholesterol, a substance vital to life
      Makes bile, an important digestive component
      Makes important blood clotting substances such as albumen, the most abundant protein in blood serum
    • Stores vitamins and minerals: Vitamins A, D, K, and B12, and iron and copper
    • Plays an important role in immunity
    • Synthesizes the hormone angiotensin, vital to maintaining our blood pressure

    Liver disease affects 30 million  Americans. An estimated three million alone have hepatitis C, just one of the many human liver diseases. Drug companies have responded with fantastically expensive treatments – upwards of $1000 per pill or $168,000 for a full course of treatment. Despite these crazy costs, this is still a cheaper option than liver transplant and subsequent life-long anti-rejection drugs.

    It isn’t just hepatitis C that damages the liver – environmental toxins and many drugs (such as  acetaminophen, aka Tylenol) can be damaging. Alcohol is one of the most common liver insults and though Milk Thistle has been touted as a “hangover cure,” it is really more beneficial for its ability to prevent the alcohol-induced damage in the first place.

    Many of our patients take Milk Thistle every day. Dr. Myatt swears by it and we take it ourselves.  It is one of those incredible herbs that doesn’t have a “too much” dose. Its safety profile is excellent. Recent experimental and clinical studies suggest that milk thistle also has anticancer, antidiabetic, and cardio-protective effects. These benefits have been published in conventional medical journals. (see the reference list at the end of this article). 

    If you want to show your liver some love — and you should love your live if you like being alive — then consider adding a high quality milk thistle formula to your daily supplement protocol. And for SURE take milk thistle if you ever have liver disease of any kind. It just might save your liver — or your life.

     

    References and further reading:

    WebMD, Nearly 3 Million Americans Living With Hepatitis C . http://www.webmd.com/hepatitis/news/20140303/nearly-3-million-americans-living-with-hepatitis-c?src=RSS_PUBLIC

    Tamayo C, Diamond S (2007). "Review of clinical trials evaluating safety and efficacy of milk thistle (Silybum marianum [L.] Gaertn.)" (PDF). Integrative Cancer Therapies. 6 (2): 146–57. doi:10.1177/1534735407301942. PMID 17548793. http://www.medmelon.gr/files4users/files/Tamayo%20and%20Diamond%20ICT%206%202.pdf  “Milk thistle extracts are known to be safe and well tolerated, and toxic or adverse effects observed in the reviewed clinical trials seem to be minimal.”

    Brandon-Warner E, Sugg JA, Schrum LW, McKillop IH. Silibinin inhibits ethanol metabolism and ethanol-dependent cell proliferation in an in vitro model of hepatocellular carcinoma. Cancer Lett. 2010 May 1;291(1):120-9. Epub 2009 Nov 8.

    Chen CH, Huang TS, Wong CH, Hong CL, Tsai YH, Liang CC, Lu FJ, Chang WH. Synergistic anti-cancer effect of baicalein and silymarin on human hepatoma HepG2 Cells. Food Chem Toxicol. 2009 Mar;47(3):638-44. Epub 2008 Dec 25.

    Cheung CW, Gibbons N, Johnson DW, Nicol DL. Silibinin–a promising new treatment for cancer. Anticancer Agents Med Chem. 2010 Mar;10(3):186-95.

    Comelli MC, Mengs U, Schneider C, Prosdocimi M. Toward the definition of the mechanism of action of silymarin: activities related to cellular protection from toxic damage induced by chemotherapy. Integr Cancer Ther. 2007 Jun;6(2):120-9.

    Momeny M, Khorramizadeh MR, Ghaffari SH, Yousefi M, Yekaninejad MS, Esmaeili R, Jahanshiri Z, Nooridaloii MR. Effects of silibinin on cell growth and invasive properties of a human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line, HepG-2, through inhibition of extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 phosphorylation. Eur J Pharmacol. 2008 Sep 4;591(1-3):13-20. Epub 2008 Jun 7.

    Post-White J, Ladas EJ, Kelly KM. Advances in the use of milk thistle (Silybum marianum). Integr Cancer Ther. 2007 Jun;6(2):104-9.

    Ramakrishnan G, Lo Muzio L, Elinos-Báez CM, Jagan S, Augustine TA, Kamaraj S, Anandakumar P, Devaki T. Silymarin inhibited proliferation and induced apoptosis in hepatic cancer cells. Cell Prolif. 2009 Apr;42(2):229-40.

    Ramasamy K, Agarwal R. Multitargeted therapy of cancer by silymarin. Cancer Lett. 2008 Oct 8;269(2):352-62. Epub 2008 May 9. Cancer Lett. 2008 Oct 8;269(2):352-62. Epub 2008 May 9.

  • From Toxic Herb To Anti-Aging Wonder Drug – A Cinderella Story

    By Nurse Mark

     

    How a toxic plant may have become the anti-aging, anti-cancer wonder-drug of the near future.

    Ancient middle-eastern sheep and goat-herders couldn’t help but notice that when their animals ate a certain plant they produced more milk. The pretty, summer-flowering Galega officinalis was known variously as galega, goat’s-rue, French lilac, Italian fitch, or professor-weed and while initially native to the Middle East it also spread to Europe and some parts of Asia and Pakistan and can now be found throughout the Americas where it was introduced as a forage plant. It now grows wild in only one part of Utah and is considered to be an agricultural pest by the federal government.

    During the middle ages, healers found that teas and extracts of the plant could stimulate milk production in new mothers, but that it had to be used carefully as it could also be toxic – not only to the mother, but also to the baby. More importantly, ancient physicians also found that it had value in treating the thirst and frequent passing of sugary urine that were the symptoms of the disease we now know as diabetes.

    However, all was not so well with the use of this plant, and the ancient healers found that if too much was given the patient could experience some very dangerous side effects such as spasms or even seizures, pulmonary edema (a buildup of fluid in the lungs) and tracheal and pharyngeal frothing and coughing, hypotension (low blood pressure), and even paralysis, coma, and death if high enough doses were taken! This was not a remedy to be used lightly…

    Unbeknownst to the ancient healers, goat’s rue contains large concentrations of a substance related to guanidine which certainly decreases blood sugar but is far too toxic to be used safely in humans.

    Still, the historical use of goat’s rue for treating diabetes did not escape the notice of early 20th century physicians and researchers, and around the time of the First World War a less toxic alkaloid, galegine, was identified in goat’s rue by French researchers. Galegine was found to have a positive action on blood sugar in diabetics and was indeed less toxic than the other guanidines in goat’s rue. Unfortunately the duration of action was very short and although there were a few human studies in the 1920’s, it was not a practical answer.

    Researchers persevered however, and their efforts led to the synthesis of biguanides which were related to the guanides but were far less toxic. The biguanides were seen as compounds with greater potential and three of them, phenformin, buformin, and metformin, would go on to be offered as drugs for the treatment of diabetes. Phenformin and buformin were eventually withdrawn because of undesirable side effects, but Metformin has proven to be safe and effective and is now considered a first-line drug for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes.

    Though Metformin was developed and approved for use in England in 1957 our own FDA took another over 3 decades more to approve the drug for use in the US. Well over a half century of use has not only proven Metformin to be effective and safe in the treatment of diabetes, it has given doctors and researchers ample opportunity to discover some of the drugs other, non-diabetes related benefits.

    Unfortunately for Metformin some patients using the related but dissimilar drug Phenformin went on to develop a dangerous condition called lactic acidosis which in a few cases led to death. Phenformin was promptly withdrawn from use and Metformin, even though very different in its metabolism and having never been associated with lactic acidosis, was banned along with Phenformin by several countries. This cast a chill over the use of Metformin that would take it years to recover from.

    It took until 1995 for Metformin to once again find favor in the US, and since then doctors have found that besides blood glucose control, metformin use reduced the risks of myocardial infarction (heart attack) and all-cause mortality. Additionally, nephrologists (kidney specialists) believe that metformin is helpful in kidney disease. Metformin is now also being used to treat polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), gestational diabetes and is showing significant promise in the prevention and treatment of cancer.

    With all these benefits coming to light you might think Metformin could comfortably rest on its laurels, but no, there’s more – there is growing evidence of its potential to extend lifespan and wellness in humans. This evidence has become so strong that the mighty FDA has bowed to pressure and has now approved not one, but 2 long-term clinical trials intended to validate in humans the results of earlier studies that prove longevity extension in lab animals.

    There you have it – a “rags to riches” story – from helpful but toxic herb to a drug that may extend our human lifespan.

    Is it any wonder that progressive doctors like Dr. Myatt feel that this is such an important drug? Dr. Myatt has been recommending Metformin to her patients, especially her longevity patients and cancer patients, for many years.

  • Seven Not-Surprising Health Updates From 2015

    As many of you know, Nurse Mark and I read the medical news every single day. There isn’t much in the way of a “breakthrough” that we’d ever miss. We even
    know about the “pseudo-breakthroughs” — those lab rat studies that are over-hyped in importance. Because of this, some of these hot-off-the-press findings you have already read about in previous HealthBeat articles. However, now that the research is being solidly reported in the conventional medical journals, some of it bears repeating.

    Here are the most recent “now it’s true because conventional medicine finally recognizes it” topics that you should be aware of. Don’t be surprised if many of these items fall into the “we told you so” category. That just means we’re doing our best to keep you on the leading edge of medical news!

    We Told You So About…

    1.)    Statin drug dangers. First, these drugs were so important that just about everyone – including children – should be taking them. Next they reported a “small increase” in diabetes with use. Oh, and that annoying problem of myalgia (muscle pain) and myopathy (rhabdomyelosis), and “brain fog” and other cognitive impairments. But not to worry, that doesn’t happen very often, so they say.

    The latest news is that the risk of diabetes increases by about 50%. Since diabetes is a serious risk factor for heart disease (the reason people take statins) AND since diabetes also increases the risk of cancer,Alzheimer’s, eye disease, atherosclerosis (narrowing and hardening of the arteries), kidney disease, and more, this is a big finding. “But don’t stop taking the drug until more is known” is the cry of Big Pharma.

    2.)    Acid-Blocking drug Dangers. We’ve talked a lot about this before in HealthBeat articles. Now add another risk of long-term use to the list of dangerous side effects: kidney disease. Sometimes severe enough to ruin the kidneys and require permanent appointments at the dialysis clinic and a spot on the transplant list. Ouch!

    These drugs, called PPI’s (proton pump inhibitors) were designed to be used short-term to treat ulcers. They work well for that. But “short term” means 6 weeks. If you have ongoing digestive distress and GERD, you need MORE stomach acid, not less. We’ve written about that, too.

    So, if you have been using acid blockers for anything other than ulcers, especially if you use them ongoing, I recommend that you stop before you have long-term consequences and take the time to figure out the real cause and correction for your GERD, heartburn and other digestive problems. If your stomach or esophagus hurt when you eat, consider that biofeedback from your body that something needs to be fixed, not masked.

    3.)    Sugar increases risk of breast cancer metastasis. I’ve mentioned this a gazillion times. In fact, ALL carbohydrates increase growth of ALL types of cancer. Conventional medicine just caught on.

    Meanwhile, watch for my upcoming book “The Ketone Diet for Cancer.”

    4.)    Testosterone therapy for men really is safe after all. We’ve heard for years all about the supposed dangers of testosterone therapy – mostly from politicians who have no medical training but plenty of skill in leaping to conclusions based on faulty research and fears of “anabolic steroid” use by sports figures and teenage body builders.

    As a result, testosterone, a natural substance present in everyone has been treated like some scary, evil drug by the FDA and prescribing it is a nightmare for physicians. That could change, as the bogus charges against testosterone therapy are refuted by study after study.

    It turns out that not only does Testosterone use NOT increase the risk of prostate cancer, and does NOT increase the risk of heart attacks as we have been told over and over in the past, Testosterone use actually reduces the risk of myocardial infarction (heart attack), stroke, and all-cause mortality, according to a large new retrospective study of Veterans Affairs (VA) patients.

    Sounds like more good reasons for men to consider hormone testing and replacement if needed. BHRT (BioIdentical Hormone Replacement Therapy) is not just for women! I’ve been prescribing testosterone for some 30 years now, despite all the FDA / DEA hassles – it’s that important to men’s health.

    And Here’s one that we have been following – look for a HealthBeat News article on this very soon:

    •    Cell phone use increases brain cancer risk. First we were told that it didn’t. Then we were told “maybe” but the evidence is weak. Now in the medical news the evidence is no longer weak. There is a 3-fold increase in brain cancer (aggressive gliomas) that correlates with cell phone and mobile phone use when the device is held next to the head.

    Personally, I try to minimize cell phone use and have increased “old school” (corded phone) use and speaker phone use whenever I can. There is some thought (and many marketing claims) that the bluetooth earpieces for cellphones may be safe due to their very low power output – we are examining the research.

    And now for good news breakthroughs:

    •    Coffee is healthy. For years we’ve been told it wasn’t. Now, coffee up to 5 cups per day is not only safe but is actually the biggest source of antioxidants in the US diet. The study found that people who drank three to five cups of coffee per day had about a 15 percent lower risk of premature death compared to people who didn’t drink coffee. Do-dah!

    •    Eggs, (and other fats) are good for you! Every 5 years the government gives us their latest dietary advice – and, lo and behold, this year the old warnings about cholesterol (including eggs), fats, and meats being evil have been softened considerably. Not only that, they are no longer making such dire warnings about processed meats like bacon and hot dogs.

    Read all about it on the government website: http://health.gov/dietaryguidelines/2015/guidelines/

    Woo-Hoo! Bacon and eggs for breakfast – with coffee!

     

    References:

    Statins:

    Reference: Henna Cederberg, Alena Stančáková, Nagendra Yaluri, Shalem Modi, Johanna Kuusisto, Markku Laakso.
    Increased risk of diabetes with statin treatment is associated with impaired insulin sensitivity and insulin secretion: a 6 year follow-up study of the METSIM cohort. Diabetologia. May 2015, Volume 58, Issue 5, pp 1109-1117

    Acid Blockers:

    Lazarus B, Chen Y, Wilson FP, et al. Proton Pump Inhibitor Use and the Risk of Chronic Kidney Disease. JAMA Intern Med. Published online January 11, 2016.

    Sugar / cancer connection:

    Jiang Y, Pan Y, Rhea PR, Tan L, Gagea M, Cohen L, Fischer SM, Yang P. A Sucrose-Enriched Diet Promotes Tumorigenesis in Mammary Gland in Part through the 12-Lipoxygenase Pathway. Cancer Res. 2016 Jan 1;76(1):24-9.

    Testosterone:

    Rishi Sharma et al., Normalization of testosterone level is associated with reduced incidence of myocardial infarction and mortality in men. European Heart Journal, 6 August 2015. http://eurheartj.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2015/07/27/eurheartj.ehv346

    Jacques Baillargeon et al., Long-term Exposure to Testosterone Therapy and the Risk of High Grade Prostate Cancer. The Journal of urology, December 2015Volume 194, Issue 6, Pages 1612–1616. http://www.jurology.com/article/S0022-5347(15)04148-8/abstract

    Cell Phones:

    Hardell, Lennart et al. Mobile phone and cordless phone use and the risk for glioma – Analysis of pooled case-control studies in Sweden, 1997–2003 and 2007–2009.
    Pathophysiology , Volume 22 , Issue 1 , 1 – 13

    Coffee:

    Ming Ding, Ambika Satija, Shilpa N. Bhupathiraju,  Yang Hu, et al. Association of Coffee Consumption With Total and Cause-Specific Mortality in 3 Large Prospective Cohorts.  Circulation. 2015;132:2305-2315.

  • Statin Drugs: The Evil Of A 20 Billion Dollar Industry

    By Nurse Mark

     

    Follow The Money

    StatinWarning

     

    If you ever want to know how or why something bad happens, just follow the money.

    Anything that is worth 20 billion dollars a year is sure to have players involved that are careful in safeguarding their interests. Silly, inconsequential things like “the public good” have no place in such industries.

    The money is everything.

    And so it’s no surprise that research critical of something as profitable as statin drugs rarely ever sees the light of day.

    Researchers that dare to challenge the statin industry often find that their next research project is more along the lines of personally discovering the joys of flipping burgers on the late shift. You can be sure that there will never be grant money again for such rebels…

    We have written before about the dangers of statin drugs and the near-religious fervor with which statin proponents in Big Pharma and Big Medicine (which are really one in the same) protect this cash-cow drug.

    Buried Research

     

    Here is a research paper that we are betting you’ll never hear about anywhere else.

    Two researchers in Ireland mined the conventional medical literature sources of Pubmed, EMBASE and the Cochrane review databases for articles about cardiovascular care and statin side effects. What they found was not pretty.

    Their paper, titled “The Ugly Side of Statins. Systemic Appraisal of the Contemporary Un-Known Unknowns” concludes (in part):

    These finding on statin major adverse effects had been under-reported and the way in which they withheld from the public, and even concealed, is a scientific farce.

    Ouch!

    Some Of Their Findings:

    For every 10,000 people taking a statin, there were:

    • 307 more patients with cataracts
    • 23 additional patients with acute kidney failure
    • 74 extra patients with liver dysfunction

     

    Playing the percentages:

    • statin therapy increased muscle fatigue by 30%
    • statin therapy at higher doses resulted in rhabdomyelosis in 11.3% of users

     

    Be Afraid Young Man!

     

    Nothing strikes fear into the heart of a young man (or a man at any age) more than erectile dysfunction, which was found to be 10 times more likely to occur in young men taking even the lowest dose of statin drugs.

    The ray of sunshine? When statins were stopped over 50 percent had full recovery within 6 months.

    The others? Good question…

    It’s A Choke

     

    While searching through the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System database the researchers found that for every 10,000 reports of a statin-associated adverse event, approximately 40 reports were for statin-induced interstitial lung disease – a condition that can lead to devastating, even deadly, Pulmonary Fibrosis.

    This Is Not So Sweet

     

    The U.S. Veterans Affairs healthcare system is as “conventional” as they come. Still, a V.A. study on 15 million veterans in 10 hospitals in the southern US found that statins affect fasting and postprandial (after eating) glucose levels by causing hyperglycaemia (high blood sugar) in diabetic as well as non-diabetic patients.

    Another major study showed a significantly increased risk of developing hemoglobin A1c readings of greater than 6% in both diabetics and non diabetics.

    Other researchers have demonstrated that statin drug therapy can cause insulin resistance.

    Women, Heed This

     

    Another highly-regarded study, the JUPITER study, showed that statin therapy can cause full blown type 2 diabetes in women.

    A recent study from the Womens Inititative looked at 153 840 post-menopausal women without diabetes. Following these women over a number of years found that 10,242 developed diabetes.

    Statin use was associated with an increased risk of diabetes and this association remained after adjusting the data for other potential causes and it was seen with all types of statin medications.

    Senior Moments

     

    Researchers found that prescribing a statin to seniors increases their risk of developing diabetes by 9%.

    A Shaky Relationship

     

    Parkinson’s disease strikes fear into the hearts of seniors.

    A strong association between lower cholesterol levels and increased risk of Parkinson’s disease has been reported. Researchers found that each mmol/L increase in total cholesterol was accompanied by a 23% decrease in the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease.

    Interestingly, the risk reduction was significant in women but not in men.

    Statins And Cancer?

     

    One review found that statin therapy increased risk of non-melanoma skin cancers. Another researcher reported that long term statin use was associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer, bladder cancer and lung cancer.

    Other evidence shows an association between the use of statin in patients after kidney transplant and increased risk of developing of squamous cell carcinoma.

    The researchers state that “For unknown reasons, since these publications the squamous cell carcinoma [information] has been excluded in all reports from subsequent statin trials. Hmmm…

    I See Problems Here…

    Cataracts are becoming increasingly common, and people are developing them at younger ages. Why?

    Research has found that statin drug users have a 50% probability of developing cataracts at an earlier age than non-statin users, who tend to develop them at a significantly later age.

    But This Takes The Prize!

     

    Statin drugs, given to us by Big Pharma with promises of preventing cardiovascular disease, actually have been found to increase the prevalence and the extent of coronary plaque calcification – a major component of cardiovascular disease.

    That’s right, a review of research data showed a strong association between statin use and the progression of coronary artery plaque. Oops…

    What’s more, The Veteran Affairs Diabetes Trial found that statin use was linked to accelerated progression of Coronary Artery Calcification (CAC) in participants with Type 2 Diabetes without previous coronary artery disease, despite the fact that the statin users had significantly lower and nearly optimal LDL-cholesterol levels.

    Could It Get Any Worse For Statins? Yes, Yes It Could.

     

    Statin drugs activate the Atrogen-1 gene which causes muscle atrophy, wasting and damage.

    The heart is a muscle – perhaps the most important muscle in your body!

    Statin induced cardiomyopathy (damage to the heart muscle) is the result of statin-induced coenzyme q10 deficiency and statin-induced Atrogen-1 activation.

    The Bottom Line?

    Cholesterol is crucial for energy, immunity, fat metabolism, leptin (the hunger/satiety hormone), thyroid hormone activity, liver health, stress tolerance, adrenal function, sex hormone synthesis and brain function.

    Do we really think it wise to tamper with our body’s own regulatory mechanisms in order to force our cholesterol levels to conform to some artificial standard?

    Perhaps we might be better served to address the causes for our epidemic of “metabolic syndrome” and “high cholesterol levels” that seem to have come along with it.

    Poor diet, lack of exercise, stress, toxins, all these things affect our finely balanced human system – what we medics call “homeostasis.”

    To learn more about how to help your body support healthy cholesterol levels, please visit our webpages discussing Self-Help for High Cholesterol here and here and be sure to read our previous HealthBeat News articles on both statin drugs and cholesterol.

    Learn more about the vital substance cholesterol in The Truth About Cholesterol Pt.I and The Truth About Cholesterol Pt.II

    Finally, has your conventional doctor used the words “ticking time-bomb” or something similar in trying to get you to accept a a prescription for a statin drug? Yes? Run, don’t walk, away from it! And contact Dr. Myatt for a Brief Telephone Conversation to learn what your options really are.

     

    Reference:

    This article is a synopsis for lay readers of an original research paper. The original paper is fully referenced and is available for review by interested readers:

    Sherif Sultan, Niamh Hynes: The Ugly Side of Statins. Systemic Appraisal of the Contemporary Un-Known Unknowns.
    Open Journal of Endocrine and Metabolic Diseases, Vol. 3  No. 3 (2013) , Article ID: 34065 , DOI:10.4236/ojemd.2013.33025