A BOMBSHELL DROPS ON CHOLESTEROL MEDICATION'S GLASS HOUSE

[Guest guest]

A BOMBSHELL DROPS ON CHOLESTEROL MEDICATION'S GLASS HOUSE

http://www.newswithviews.com/Richards/byron15.htm

By Byron J. Richards, CCN

November 19, 2006

NewsWithViews.com

 

It had to happen sooner or later. On October 3, 2006, after extensive review

of all studies relating to cholesterol-lowering benefits by statin drugs,

scientists reporting in the Annals of Internal Medicine

http://www.annals.org/cgi/content/full/145/7/520 pulled the rug out from under

the current

government-sanctioned cholesterol levels for reducing cardiovascular disease.

Their

conclusion, “current clinical evidence does not demonstrate that titrating

lipid

therapy to achieve proposed low LDL cholesterol levels is beneficial or safe.â€

 

This is not a trivial issue. Many billions of taxpayer dollars have been

wasted on the cholesterol drug scam. The health and well being of millions of

Americans may have been compromised by reckless lowering of cholesterol, a

substance that is vital to health and energy production.

 

It has long been recognized that adults who have naturally lower cholesterol

levels during their 40s and 50s have less heart disease as they grow older. A

large body of science supports the notion that LDL cholesterol levels lower

than 130 mg/dL is an excellent goal for one and all. How a person should arrive

at this goal is a matter of considerable debate. A good diet and exercise is

the foundation for any person’s health program and for many this approach is

adequate.

 

The use of nutritional supplements to help lower cholesterol, products that

have virtually no side effects and may be highly effective, is considered by

the FDA to be an illegal health claim. Instead, the FDA expects Americans to use

statin drugs to accomplish this goal, even though the medications have a

general anti-energy effect and long list of potentially serious side effects

that

are not clearly explained to those taking the medications or even to the

doctors giving them out.

 

To make matters worse, several years ago the government-funded National

Cholesterol Education Program promoted new guidelines for the use of these

drugs.

It was recommended that individuals at high cardiovascular disease risk attain

LDL levels < 100 mg/dL and individuals at very high cardiovascular risk attain

LDL levels < 70 mg/dL. These are abnormally low levels of cholesterol,

meaning drugs must be used to create an artificially low level of LDL

cholesterol,

an unnatural physiological condition. This is very difficult to do and requires

high doses of statins, doubling or tripling the dose, oftentimes combined in

dangerous combinations with other drugs (like fibrates).

 

These therapies are extremely expensive and often do not work. These

guidelines immediately boosted the sales of statins from fifteen billion per

year when

the report was released in 2004 to over twenty-two billion in 2005. And now

we come to find out there is not a shred of scientific evidence to support that

lowering cholesterol in this manner will reduce cardiovascular disease,

compared to simply having an LDL lower than 130.

 

Statins are also being pushed for prevention of a first heart attack in

people with only moderate cardiovascular risk. A careful analysis of the

statistical data

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed & cmd=Retrieve &

dopt=AbstractPlus & list_uids=11678788 & query_hl=20 & itool=pubmed_docsum shows that

such statin use may very slightly reduce cardiovascular death in this

preventive population over a ten year period. However, the drugs kill 1% as a

side

effect, due to accidents, suicide, and infection, completely canceling out any

benefit. This means there is no value at all, from a societal point of view, in

wasting billions of dollars of taxpayer money on this pointless preventive

strategy.

 

The amount of money spent on this fraudulent scheme is at least seven billion

dollars a year, money that is in essence stolen from hard working Americans.

Class-action lawsuits

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=31380 have already been

filed against Pfizer for illegal Lipitor promotion,

many are sure to follow.

 

Big Pharma Concocts an Authentic Appearance

 

The National Cholesterol Education Program is part of the National Heart,

Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), meaning that it is part of our federal

government and has an operating budget of about one million dollars per year. In

2004

it selected a panel of nine “experts†to review statin drug use and make

recommendations as to guidelines doctors should follow to reduce cardiovascular

disease.

 

On July 13, 2004, these nine experts published their findings in Circulation

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve & db=pubmed &

dopt=Abstract & list_uids=15249516 , a journal of the American Heart

Association. Their

paper lists the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; American College

of Cardiology Foundation; American Heart Association as coauthors – meaning

these various groups supported the findings. It doesn’t appear to be very

difficult to get published in your own marketing magazine.

 

Circulation failed to disclose that six of the nine authors had direct

financial ties to the makers of statin drugs. Those drugs include Pfizer's

Lipitor;

Bristol-Myers Squibb's Pravachol, Merck's Lovastatin, and AstraZeneca's

Crestor. For example, Newsday.com reported on July 14, 2004

http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/newsday/access/664238141.html?dids=664238141:6642381\

41 & FMT=ABS &

FMTS=ABS:FT & date=Jul+15,+2004 & author=DELTHIA+RICKS+AND+RONI+RABIN.+STAFF+WRITERS\

&

desc=CHOLESTEROL+GUIDELINES,+Drug+panelists%27+links+under+fire , “Dr. H.

Bryan

Brewer, a physician-scientist at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute,

was one of the guidelines' authors. He was the subject of a letter to the

director of the National Institutes of Health last week from a consumer

watchdog,

Public Citizen's Health Research Group. The advocacy organization charged that

Brewer had failed to disclose his ties to AstraZeneca. Brewer, according to the

letter, had written a glowing report in a medical journal about Crestor

without disclosing that he is a paid consultant and had presided over a

company-sponsored symposium.â€

 

Even though these connections were slightly exposed in the media at the time,

no action was taken to review the credibility of the statin science by other

less biased researchers. Instead, the public relations buzz was that the

statin “science†was solid.

 

The October 3 review in the Annals of Internal Medicine tears this “solid

science†to shreds, something that should have been done two years ago. The

review explains the deceitful manipulation of statistics and how not one study

proves that lowering LDL cholesterol to the super low levels recommended has any

benefit in reducing cardiovascular disease. Simply put, this report is

shocking.

 

The bottom line: there is no credible science, and there never was, that

offered proof that lowering cholesterol levels to physiologically abnormal

levels

reduced cardiovascular risk. Thus, basing a broad governmental public health

recommendation on no solid science is flat out wrong. Why aren’t these faulty

recommendations being reversed?

 

The Extreme Dangers of Statin Drugs are Downplayed

 

In my book, Fight for Your Health: Exposing the FDA’s Betrayal of America

http://www.newswithviews.com/Richards/byron15.htm , I spend several chapters

documenting all the clearly known risks of statin drugs, citing over 140

references. Even though it is the most widely used drug in America, most doctors

prescribing it are not aware of its many side effects or numerous interactions

with

other drugs. Statins are known to disrupt energy production, weaken the

adrenal glands, interrupt vitamin D synthesis, block co-enzyme Q10 production,

induce cardiomyopathy, damage kidneys, weaken or damage muscles, and in a

variety

of situations increase cancer risk.

 

There are numerous reports of suicide, depression, and cognitive impairment

from statin use. Since many elderly patients are using statins, brain damage

with ongoing use is likely. This is not difficult for anyone to understand.

Brain cells contain higher levels of cholesterol in their cell membranes,

enabling

nerve cells to survive longer. Nerve cells do not split and divide like other

cells in the body, thus they must have a higher level of cholesterol – this

is normal http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed & cmd=Retrieve &

dopt=AbstractPlus & list_uids=10349836 & query_hl=24 & itool=pubmed_DocSum . One

clear adverse effect of statins is lowering the nerve cell-membrane level of

cholesterol

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed & cmd=Retrieve &

dopt=AbstractPlus & list_uids=15572855 & query_hl=22 & itool=pubmed_docsum ,

resulting in premature cellular death. Maintaining proper levels of cholesterol

in the brain is vital to normal nerve function

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed & cmd=Retrieve & dopt=Abstra\

ctPlus & list_uids=11796756 &

query_hl=24 & itool=pubmed_docsum . This toxic effect of statins will be worse on

a higher dose and nerve damage will progressively accumulate over time

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?itool=abstractplus & db=pubmed &

cmd=Retrieve & dopt=abstractplus & list_uids=12011277 . Doctors, mostly unaware

they could

be inducing cognitive decline

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed & cmd=Retrieve & dopt=Abstra\

ctPlus & list_uids=16863497 & query_hl=28 &

itool=pubmed_docsum or neuropathy in their patients, may prescribe other brain

medications to treat the decline in nervous system function, thinking the

symptoms

are just part of the aging process. This is a tragedy.

 

Another seldom mentioned adverse side effect of statins is that they directly

interfere with immune system function. Statin pushers like to claim this is a

benefit http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?itool=abstractplus &

db=pubmed & cmd=Retrieve & dopt=abstractplus & list_uids=15304496 , reducing

inflammation. There is an element of truth in this; however, there are much

better ways

to reduce inflammation than by use of statins that actually block immune

signals. The same system being blocked by statins is required for a robust

response

to combat infection. The immune suppressing effects are so powerful that

statins are being considered as adjunctive therapy for organ transplant patients

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed & cmd=Retrieve &

dopt=AbstractPlus & list_uids=12381218 & query_hl=16 & itool=pubmed_docsum . What

happens to

a person’s immune defense when they are on a super high dose of statins to

lower cholesterol to abnormally low levels? How is anybody on high-dose statin

therapy supposed to fight the flu? What happens if a pandemic flu strain hits?

Guess which citizens won’t make it.

 

Mainstream Media Attempts to Brainwash Americans

 

A major part of the drug safety problem in the United States is that sleazy

Big Pharma-sponsored studies are published as if they are science. Mainstream

media forwards the Big Pharma sales pitch. This is done to blatantly promote

the use of many dangerous drugs (like Vioxx), as well as to improperly discredit

competition to drugs, i.e., the very safe nutritional supplements.

 

We hardly heard a peep from the mainstream media regarding these rather

dramatic findings. The New York Times

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed & cmd=Retrieve & dopt=Abstra\

ctPlus & list_uids=12381218 & query_hl=16 &

itool=pubmed_docsum did manage to report on this issue; however, the reporting

is

more a defense of the status quo than a consumer wake-up call to a major

health scam costing us billions of dollars.

 

Circulation is operated by the American Heart Association (AHA). All the big

statin companies, Pfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck, and AstraZeneca, pay

big money to the AHA every year

http://www.cspinet.org/integrity/nonprofits/american_heart_association.html (so

does Bayer for aspirin promotion). The AHA

has a long history of taking in millions

http://www.commondreams.org/views/111200-104.htm from statin-producing companies

and other heart-drug producers,

supporting questionable products in return. Once Big Pharma gets the slanted

study

published, the mainstream media is fed press releases and they promote the

information to the unsuspecting public as if it is a major scientific discovery.

Big Pharma pays several billion dollars a year for media advertising – you

better believe the top media executives know where their bread is buttered.

 

During the time in 2004 that Big Pharma was plotting its statin bonanza it

needed to fire cannonballs at its most widely recognized competition, Vitamin E

and other antioxidants. No problem. First, in August 2004, they use their

marketing magazine to print a bogus article

http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/110/5/637 , contradicting hundreds

of nutritional studies, stating that

antioxidants A, C, and E are not effective for cardiovascular disease risk

reduction. Then, in November of 2004, with trumpets blaring at their yearly AHA

meeting

http://scientificsessions.americanheart.org/portal/scientificsessions/ss/newsrel\

ease11.10.04b , they make the brazenly fraudulent claim that

vitamin E increases the risk of death by 6%!!!

 

Outside the marketing meeting masquerading as a scientific conference, the

chairman, Dr. Raymond Gibbons of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, is

holding a dog and pony show press conference. “I spend all my time trying to

tell

patients why they should not take vitamin E

http://www.earthboundfarm.com/News/NewsStories/VitE111004.aspx . Too often in

terms of the supplements

there's very scant science. In this area, we have the science. Vitamin E doesn't

work.†He implored his captive audience of reporters to help him convince

patients to stop taking Vitamin E and take the “proven†drugs. The next day,

all

major media ran the story telling consumers vitamin E was dangerous. Program

effective. Damage done.

 

Within weeks the American Heart Association had brainwashed doctors and the

American public to actually think vitamin E was dangerous, clearing out the

primary competition to statins for the prevention and treatment of

cardiovascular

disease. Doctors were telling all their patients to stop taking vitamin E.

The anti-vitamin rhetoric spread like wild fire through doctor’s offices

around

the nation.

 

Within a week the bogus vitamin E information coming from the American Heart

Association meeting was debunked. Physician and nutritional expert, Alan Gaby,

pointed out all the flaws

http://www.naturalproductsassoc.org/site/DocServer/healthnotes.pdf?docID=302http\

://www.naturalproductsassoc.org/site/DocServer/hea

lthnotes.pdf?docID=302 as well as the safe and effective track record of

vitamin E. By April of 2006, the leading antioxidant scientists in the world

http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/81/4/736 had published a comprehensive

review showing the safety of vitamin E up to doses of 1600 IU per day, again

debunking the false vitamin E story and explain the high degree of safety of

antioxidant nutrients. The media was nowhere to be found; the public never heard

vitamin E was truly safe and vital for immune function, prevention of cognitive

decline, and a wonderful nutrient for cardiovascular support.

 

In July of 2005, the Journal of the American Medical Association published

the results of an amazing vitamin E and heart disease study. After tracking

40,000 women for eight years it was proven that vitamin E lowered the risk of

cardiovascular death by 24%!

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?itool=abstractplus & db=pubmed & cmd=R\

etrieve & dopt=abstractplus & list_uids=15998891

However, JAMA authors, going along with the vitamin E smear campaign, concluded

that vitamin E was not worth recommending! Any drug with that kind of

statistical evidence would be a billion dollar blockbuster. The idiotic media

failed to

look at the study and reported everywhere that vitamin E was not needed,

denying women the true information

http://www.knowledgeofhealth.com/report.asp?story=Response%20to%20NIH%20Vitamin%\

20Press%20Release & catagory=Vitamin%20E about

a wonderful cardiovascular support nutrient.

 

It should not be surprising that the American Heart Association’s bogus

attack on vitamin E was rooted in their bogus science about the benefits of

using

statin drugs to lower LDL cholesterol to abnormally low physiological levels.

The degree of collusion between the American Heart Association, Big Pharma,

government agencies, scientific journals, and the media is simply appalling. The

American Heart Association is now seen as the Big Pharma front group they

truly are.

 

Where is the FDA when they are needed? Why isn’t the FDA requiring more

testing before allowing doctors to use statins in an unapproved manner? Why is

the

FDA attacking super-safe nutritional strategies to help Americans naturally

and safely normalize cholesterol levels?

 

Consumers Really Do Have Choices

 

There is no short cut to healthy cholesterol function in the human body. A

good diet and exercise are the foundation. Many nutritional ingredients may be

able to assist a person in their quest to improve their cholesterol levels.

Despite this fact, the FDA is trying to trample the first amendment and prevent

you from learning about these options; however, Americans do have choices.

 

There is a very good reason the AHA was attacking vitamin E. One of the newer

nutritional supplement forms of vitamin E, known as tocotrienols, is a

powerful tool for managing cholesterol

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed & cmd=Retrieve & dopt=Abstra\

ctPlus & list_uids=16458936 & query_hl=11 &

itool=pubmed_docsum and boosting immunity. 100 mgs a day of rice bran

tocotrienols have been shown to lower LDL cholesterol 25%

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed & cmd=Retrieve & dopt=Abstra\

ctPlus & list_uids=11882333 &

query_hl=13 & itool=pubmed_docsum . Tocotrienols are the only form of vitamin E

that show some ability to reverse hardening in the arteries

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed & cmd=Retrieve & dopt=Abstra\

ctPlus &

list_uids=8614310 & query_hl=13 & itool=pubmed_DocSum . They are known to

effectively

reduce plaque formation by preventing plaque from sticking to the lining of

arteries http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed & cmd=Retrieve &

dopt=AbstractPlus & list_uids=15823271 & query_hl=24 & itool=pubmed_docsum . Instead

of

causing nerve damage like statins, they offer powerful antioxidant protection

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed & cmd=Retrieve &

dopt=AbstractPlus & list_uids=16923160 & query_hl=30 & itool=pubmed_docsum for

nerves.

Statins work by taking a sledge hammer to the cholesterol production line.

Tocotrienols work by telling the workers on the production line to go home for

the day,

enough work has been done.

 

 

Nature provides us with hundreds of natural compounds that help cholesterol

regulation. Any supplement that improves energy function, such as a good

multiple vitamin, will have a synergistic benefit. Fiber, whether dietary or in

the

form of supplements, can help manage cholesterol. In some cases, a simple

deficiency in magnesium can cause cholesterol to elevate

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed & cmd=Retrieve & dopt=Abstra\

ctPlus &

list_uids=15466951 & query_hl=14 & itool=pubmed_DocSum . Magnesium is the most

lacking mineral in

the American diet. Omega 3 oils are also lacking in diets, and fish oil has

been shown to lower cholesterol (study 1

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed & cmd=Retrieve & dopt=Abstra\

ctPlus & list_uids=16278686 &

query_hl=24 & itool=pubmed_docsum , study 2

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed & cmd=Retrieve & dopt=Abstra\

ctPlus & list_uids=15939062 & query_hl=24 &

itool=pubmed_DocSum , study 3

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed & cmd=Retrieve & dopt=Abstra\

ctPlus & list_uids=15930443 & query_hl=24 &

itool=pubmed_DocSum ).

 

Whether it is a B vitamin like pantethine

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed & cmd=Retrieve & dopt=Abstra\

ctPlus & list_uids=3098691 &

query_hl=32 & itool=pubmed_DocSum or niacin

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed & cmd=Retrieve & dopt=Abstra\

ctPlus & list_uids=16950175 & query_hl=36 &

itool=pubmed_docsum , a fruit extract from citrus

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed & cmd=Retrieve & dopt=Abstra\

ctPlus & list_uids=15134141 &

query_hl=40 & itool=pubmed_docsum or blueberries

http://www.newstarget.com/002906.html , or a simple condiment like garlic

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed & cmd=Retrieve & dopt=Abstra\

ctPlus & list_uids=16484570 &

query_hl=48 & itool=pubmed_docsum , the list of nutrients that may assist

individuals

to manage their cholesterol is almost endless. Nature has provided answers.

You have many options.

 

There is good reason many Americans are turning to safe and effective natural

options as part of a health strategy to maintain cholesterol levels in a

better range. This latest fiasco with cholesterol medication is proof that

government and Big Pharma work together to push drug sales, oftentimes

disregarding

the true effects on human health, including safety. I wonder if the American

Heart Association will learn that those living in glass houses should not throw

stones? How much longer can Americans tolerate a government, media, and health

industry on the take from Big Pharma?

 

© 2006 Truth in Wellness http://www.truthinwellness.com/ , LLC - All Rights

Reserved

 

--

Byron J. Richards, Founder/Director of Wellness Resources, is a

Board-Certified Clinical Nutritionist and nationally-renowned health expert,

radio

personality, educator, and author.

 

Richards encourages individuals to take charge of their health, stand up for

their health rights, and not blindly succumb to propaganda from the

vested-interests who profit from keeping Americans sick. Author of Mastering

Leptin and

Fight for Your Health, Richards is now joining forces with health freedom

leaders in the U.S. and throughout the world. Visit his health blog for up to

date

happenings. www.truthinwellness.com

 

As founder of Wellness Resources, Inc. of Minneapolis, MN (since 1985), he

has personally developed 75 unique nutraceutical-grade nutritional formulas.

www.wellnessresources.com

 

Charter Member of the International and American Associations of Clinical

Nutritionists (IAACN) (since 1991) Richards has presented hundreds of

educational

classes to health professionals and individuals who want to take charge of

their health!

 

E-mail: byron