The Real Problem With Statins

Statins have been around for a long time. I’ve told you in the past about the problems with statins. But the longer doctors prescribe these drugs, the more we learn about them. This is important!

As you may know, there are plenty of problems with drug therapy. It is one of the leading causes of death in the United States.

But the worst situations come from the newest drugs. That’s because the FDA does not require long-term safety studies for new drugs.

There’s only one way that we ever find out how bad a given drug is – and that’s after people have used it for many years.

Unfortunately, a lot of people can be injured from these new drugs before they are eventually taken off the market. Statins are a great example of this.

When they first came out, statins were supposed to be the holy grail of modern medicine. Now, 20+ years later, we’re learning that artificially lowering cholesterol – which is the most important steroid in the human body – can cause kidney disease, diabetes, cataracts, and memory loss.

Not too long ago, I reported that lowering LDL cholesterol, the so-called “bad” cholesterol, in men and women over 60 decreases their life span.

Now, a new report is showing that lowering LDL has another problem. It increases stroke risk.

The researchers in this new study looked at 27,937 women enrolled in the Women's Health Study and compared their LDL cholesterol levels with the likelihood of having a hemorrhagic stroke. Here’s what they found.

During an average follow-up period of 19.3 years, 137 of the women had a hemorrhagic stroke. You won’t hear this on the Big Pharma-controlled media, but the ones with the lowest LDL levels (<70 mg/dL) were 2.17 times more likely to have a hemorrhagic stroke than those with much higher LDL levels (100-129.9 mg/dL). They also found that artificially lowering triglyceride levels had the same effect.

According to the authors of the study, “LDL cholesterol levels less than 70 mg/dL and low triglyceride levels were associated with increased risk of hemorrhagic stroke among women.”

So, we have two lessons here. First, stay away from statins. If you must lower your cholesterol, there are safer ways to do it. Check your thyroid and make sure it’s functioning properly. And take plenty of niacin (up to 2,000 mg daily). It will help lower your cholesterol and protect you from having a stroke.

Second, when the latest and greatest drug comes out, don’t be the first person to try it. Let someone else have that honor. Stick with the old, tried-and-true, inexpensive drugs that we already have good long-term data on. Or better yet, work with a doctor who knows about natural approaches that can safely substitute for drug therapy.

Yours for better health,

Frank Shallenberger, MD