Statin Nation: The Great Cholesterol Cover-Up
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Statin Nation: The Great Cholesterol Cover-Up

2013, Health  -   102 Comments
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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.

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?

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KG 11
KG 11
7 years ago

What is your argument? A: you had a heart attack and stent placed and now your heart is "fine" therefore statins are a huge waste? B: Statins can have unwanted side effects... C: You really do need the statin but who the f*&k cares because we all die eventually? I hope its B & C, because you my friend may just be depressed enough by the chronic life-long battle with coronary artery disease you are now going to face after your heart attack to decide that nothing really matters...

A stent is not the end of the battle. The cholesterol doesn't "block" the artery causing a heart attack, but instead builds up and forms hard plaque inside the artery lumen. Then...eventually some of the plaque breaks off and flows into the smaller branches, and this is what blocks an artery and causes cessation of blood flow and oxygen to your heart muscle.

Now that you are done with statins, your second attack will cause more of your heart muscle to die. Stent? Maybe, but your heart muscle is forever weakened, eventually causing pump failure. Your heart will pump harder to make up for even the small amount of muscle death from your heart attack. As this happens the muscle weakens and then is not strong enough to pump blood to the rest of your body. This will soon cause blood to back up in your lungs causing the debilitating symptoms of heart failure: fatigue, shortness of breath. Walking to the mailbox will become too much, and after years of this, the heart becoming weaker and weaker, and other organ systems aren't getting the o2 they need. Until its all over...drugs are needed to correct the physiology you neglected. But who cares right?

Sounds fun...

Wayne
Wayne
8 years ago

I had a heart attack at age 50. Blocked artery. Stent inserted. Doctor put me on Statins. Seemed I could never get better. Heart was fine, but I was depressed, itched all over, sore legs, excema, inflamed liver, gas - the list went on.

Doctor presecribed more drugs never altering dosage of satins. Program on Australian tv warns of dangers of statins early 2015. Tv channel forced to apologise for "biased" reporting. Raises alarm for me. I research the drug and am absolutely horrified at what I learn.

Wean myself off statins not telling doctor. Feel better almost immediately. Six months later am still expelling that poison from my system, but feeling like my old self again. Cholesterol level a little above norm, but who the f@*! cares. No-one gets out alive and I would rather quality than quantity. Have lost all trust of doctors. Would like to force them to take their own medicines. See how they like it. Be aware of what you are prescribed by the goliath called "medicine."

Bret The Hitman
Bret The Hitman
9 years ago

The main source of cholesterol in the body is that produced by our very own vital organ the liver. High carb diets (advocated by USDA) and hyperglycemia (high sugar in the bloodstream) contribute to inflammation and cell damage. Each cell membrane is made structurally sound by cholesterol. When high sugar intake inflicts membrane damage, the liver releases LDL cholesterol into the blood with the intention of membrane repair (of the cells lining the blood vessels of the cardiovascular system). Likewise, when a cell is weak or dies, cholesterol remnants are transported back to the liver via HDL. That's right, HDL carries this ghastly molecule right back to our very own vital organ. OMG. Why? For recycling.

Dietary cholesterol makes up merely a minute portion of total body cholesterol. If blood cholesterol is high, that is a sign our liver is distressed and our hepatocytes (liver cells) are working hard to produce and release cholesterol to damaged cells. Elevated levels of cholesterol in the blood come from within and serve a healing purpose.

So if we care about the health of our hearts and the integrity of the cholesterol dense membranes of the cells lining our blood vessels, instead of avoiding dietary cholesterol and saturated fat, we should think more about significantly reducing carb intake (no whole grains, no refined grains, no pastas, no breads, no sugar, no corn syrup, no high fructose corn syrup). No species has evolved with a vital organ that daily produces significant amounts of a lethal molecule detrimental to the organism, that includes homo sapien with cholesterol recycling liver.

Johannes Bjarmarsson
Johannes Bjarmarsson
10 years ago

Every cell in our body is made of Cholesterol, our brain is 80% Cholesterol ... what we have got here is a classic case of Genocide

hernandayoleary
hernandayoleary
10 years ago

So if bad food doesn't cause high cholesterol what does?

Wayne Siemund
Wayne Siemund
10 years ago

Ask any drug dealer and they will say the more trendy the drug, the more beneficial it is to the seller, not the user. When medical drugs are advertised on TV like food and candy, a red flag should pop up in your mind to be very skeptical. After all, they are trying to sell you an idea you are not qualified to judge, and they are not informed enough to prescribe.

oQ
oQ
10 years ago

Where are you guys (blind) supporters of the medical and pharmaceutical field when such a doc comes top of the list?
1i
edited

Sivan Nair
Sivan Nair
10 years ago

It is interesting to read differing opinions of so many of you. Let me also contribute my two-cent worth. First let me apologize for side tracking a bit from the subject matter and also for being long winded. . The first thing doctors do is to ask you for your history to find out if any of your parents, grandparents have suffered from heart ailments. To this, from personal experience, I can say it is a complete waste of time. I had a heart attack when I was 46 (I am now 68). There is no record of any of my parents or grandparents having such a problem. Secondly the medical fraternity once thought if you had any pain in your chest, especially on the left, it was sure sign of heart problem. As in my case, I had pain in my arms and jaw. A physician friend rushed to my house and gave me patherdine jab and the pain went away. He asked me to be admitted to the hospital for a thorough check which I did. They ran all sorts of tests including xray, treadmill and ECG. The physician (the term cardiology was just being introduced at that time) swore on his profession that the pain I had experienced had nothing to do with my heart. Some six months later I had pain in similar places but this time it was more severe. I was admitted to the ICU but because of lack facilities I was referred to a private hospital in Kuala Lumpur (incidentally I am from Malaysia), about a 1000 miles away from where I was. I was airlifted to Kuala Lumpur. The professor who carried out the angiogram procedure confirmed that I had a 75% blockage in my LAD and did an angioplasty. This time the ECG showed I had a mild heart attack. I gave up smoking.

Here I must mention that my cholesterol level was very low, my weight was 65kg and my height is 5ft 9in. I maintained my weight by walking 5km everyday. Going by medical theory that usually a obese person who is bound to have high level of cholesterol is the one who is likely tol get heart attack, should not apply to me!! The clever drug companies take control of your life from the moment you have a heart problem. I had been on statin ever since. Not only that they keep adding new drugs ever so often and doctors readily fall for their tricks. Pharmaceutical companies can vehemently deny but I can vouch that their initial drugs give rise to various other diseases. Now I suffer from diabetes, high blood pressure and flatulence for which I take more drugs!!

My woes did not end with my first angioplasty. Three months later I developed more pain in the chest. This time I went to the National Heart Institute in Kuala Lumpur. Dr Robaayah, a cardiologist who works closely with Stanford University in the USA discovered more blocks in the same artery. She suggested putting in a stent, a new invention. I was the sixth patient in the country to have stent put in. Since then I went in and out of hospital. I have lost count of the number of stents in my chest. I think there are some10 to 12 of them!!!

It is universally known that there is a tussle between cardiologists and thoracic surgeons (TS) all because of money. If a cardiologist doesn't refer a patient to a TS he has no income. On the one hand pharmaceutical companies fleece you and on the other doctors fight over who should deal with you. You are at their mercy.

After the facts we all tend to become cleverer. From experience I can say it is easy to take care of our bodies. The major cause of heart problem is failure to check your stress and anxiety level. It is not so much as to what you eat or how hard you work. I am a typical example of a Type A type of person. I do not tolerate many things. You get your adrenaline overworking which naturally affects you general well being. If you realize this early in life you would do a world of good to yourself and keep the pharmaceutical companies off your turf. You have to eat sensibly and the best way to do that is to avoid fast food outlets. Do regular exercise, better still if you can include yoga in the scheme. You may appear on the outside a calm and collected person. People like these find it difficult to handle stress and anxiety. Again I am a fine example of this.

Christopher John Walters
Christopher John Walters
10 years ago

Chemical soup for Breakfast Dinner and Tea ? Fluoride in the Water, Antibiotics in Dairy and Meat, Insecticides on our Fruit and Veg and Big Farma filling us with Drugs which either don't work or endanger our lives and mental health.. It is ALL a scandal..

MalOdour
MalOdour
10 years ago

Vaccines are the next big thing for Big Pharma giving kids all sort of problems like ADHD Autism etc all to help big companies make money selling more drugs.

Imightberiding
Imightberiding
10 years ago

I have been on blood thinners for the past few years & also have extremely high cholesterol. Maybe it's not a real health issue but I can tell all of you from experience that several members of my family have passed away prematurely from stroke related issues. For me, this is a very real concern & health problem. I don't know if the giant pharma companies are perpetuating a myth. Of course they want the largest profit they can achieve but perhaps they really are helping us to live longer & better. I honestly don't know.

It is very easy to comment & have an opinion when one is in good health & does not have the ever-present burden of a stroke or DVT looming over them.

The answer is much easier to come by when you are not the guinea pig. Can someone afflicted with these real health issues stop their medication without ill effects? Is high cholesterol really nothing to be worried about? Maybe, maybe not. Who are you going to believe when it's your life at risk?

a_no_n
a_no_n
10 years ago

this documentary was brought to you by the Dairy farmers society of America lol.

Generally, when people are challenging a hypothesis for decades, it's because they can't prove what they are saying!

Paul Gloor
Paul Gloor
10 years ago

I guess its as the saying goes "Let thy food be thy medicine, and thy medicine be they food" I'm getting to the point where I want to drop all this processed crap and start growing all my own food. I bet a lot of the stress damage is caused by food additives. It almost seems as if "do no harm" has been completely forgotten in lieu of "what's our bottom line ?"

rudeboi
rudeboi
10 years ago

The way I see it is we should just eat. All the worrying is probably just as bad as that double cheeseburger.

bburke
bburke
10 years ago

The drug industry has created more diseases than it has ever cured. There is no money in curing, only in the ongoing treatment of a disease that was sold to the public by advertising. I think they discover these drugs by accident then come up with a disease for them to treat

Björn Lundberg
Björn Lundberg
10 years ago

Says video is private .. can't watch it :(

calblue61
calblue61
10 years ago

to answer the last question...you better believe it. When a 30 second commercial tells you in a few seconds what the drug is for and spends the rest of the 25+ seconds telling you with ultra fast speed-talking why and how it may kill you if you take it...the big pharma "cartel" can keep it's drugs. It is scary what these greedy bastards get away with...