Page 16 - Spring2009

Caustic Commentary

Sally Fallon and Mary Enig take on the Diet Dictocrats

STATINOMANIA be able to prevent miscarriages in women who are suffering
Statin pushers are citing two studies as justification for put- from pregnancy complications caused by antiphospholipid
ting people with “normal” cholesterol levels—millions more syndrome (APS)” (Science Daily, October 11, 2008). Whether
Americans—on cholesterol-lowering statin drugs. One is the or not the biochemical changes observed in the mice on statins
Jupiter study, in which the statin Crestor was said to “dramati- will result in fewer miscarriages in human women, one thing
cally cut deaths, heart attacks and is certain: giving pregnant women
strokes in patients who had healthy statins is bound to result in more
cholesterol levels but high levels birth defects, horrible birth defects.
of a protein associated with heart Statins are listed as a Category X
disease.” (We commented on the drug in pregnancy, along with tha-
spurious benefits of statins in the lidomide and Accutane. The March
Jupiter study in the Winter, 2008 of Dimes has opposed the sale of
issue of Wise Traditions.) The other over-the-counter statins because of
was a study at UCLA in which half birth defect risk. Governments in
of 131,000 hospital admissions for Canada, France and Sweden have
heart disease had normal LDL-cho- issued warnings against statin use
lesterol levels. By the tortured logic in pregnancy. Even the cholesterol-
of statin-numbed brains, this means lowering spread Becel Pro-Activ
that the ideal LDL level was set too contains a warning to women of
high and the “majority of people child-bearing age not to use the
would be recommended to take a product. But none of that deters the
statin” (Reuters Health, January statin-pushers, determined to leave
14, 2009). Meanwhile, research to no population group behind.
be published in the Proceedings of
the National Academy of Sciences suggests that cholesterol- NONCOMPLIANCE
reducing drugs may lessen brain function. According to Why the renewed push to get more people, even pregnant
Yeon-Kyun Shin, a biophysics professor in the department women, on statins? Perhaps because nearly half of all patients
of biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology, studies discontinue the medicine after a year of treatment, even though
indicate that the drugs may keep the brain from making their doctors recommend treatment for decades, or even for
cholesterol, thereby affecting the machinery that triggers life (www.npr.org, November 18, 2008). These findings are
the release of neurotransmitters. “Neurotransmitters affect from a study of 435 patients treated at Kaiser Permanente of
the data-processing and memory functions,” says Shin. “In Colorado. The most common reason for stopping, according to
other words, how smart you are and how well you remember a patient survey, was side effects, including muscle cramping.
things.” Another study found that obese men taking statins Patients also stopped the treatment because they thought it was
had a fifty percent increase in prostate cancer (News Wire unnecessary or were worried about developing side effects in
Services, August 22, 2008). (Statin promoter Professor Sir the future. According to Kaiser researcher Dr. John Steiner,
Richard Peto of Oxford University dismissed the findings as “It’s hard to know whether these symptoms are really due to
a “statistical fluke.”) the drug. . . it may be that people are paying more attention
to their physical sensations after they start a new medica-
NO POPULATION GROUP LEFT BEHIND tion.” Instead of taking patient complaints seriously, doctors
Pregnant women are targets for statins again with the publi- are calling for more “education,” that is, browbeating. “We
cation of a study on mice, which indicates that “statins may showed that if you educate the patients, they’re more likely
14 Wise Traditions SPRING 2009