Chol Lowering Drugs Worthless part 1

[Guest guest]

this is a three part article I feel is worth reading....

 

 

Cholesterol Lowering Drugs are Worthless in Most Cases - Part One

By Mark Schauss | February 15, 2008

 

While walking through the SeaTac Airport a few weeks ago, I saw an article in Business Week magazine that made me smile as it was saying what I have been saying for years, which is, statin drugs really don’t prevent heart disease.

Aside from the Vytorin®/Zetia® debacle, the whole idea of lowering cholesterol (LDL especially) to prevent heart disease is nothing less than a scam. In my book, Achieving Victory Over a Toxic World, I devote a few pages on the medical communities fascination with LDL and heart disease and how bogus the idea is. Well, the evidence is coming in that I was indeed right, as were a number of researchers I mentioned like Dr. Ufe Ravnskov and Dr. John Abramson.

When I make my comments at lectures around the world about the lack of a real link between LDL cholesterol and heart disease I get mixed reactions. Knowledgeable health care practitioners nod in agreement with big smiles; others grimace with a backdrop of anger and disbelief. Individuals look mystified, bewildered and highly skeptical. How can a guy with a doctorate in business be right when so many physicians who have studied heart disease be wrong? If you stay on the side that thinks statin drugs and lowering cholesterol are proven preventive treatments for coronary heart disease after reading this three-part blog, either you are in a major state of denial or you are on the payroll of a pharmaceutical company that is benefiting from the sale of these ill-conceived toxins.

An important concept to understand is a number called the NNT (Number Needed to Treat). This number tells us the number of people that must take a drug for one person to benefit. If a drug is perfect, than that number should be one, which means for every one person who takes the drug, one person will benefit from it and prevent or successfully treat the disease or syndrome.

For people taking an antibiotic cocktail to kill off the bacterium (H pylorii) that causes ulcers, the NNT is 1.1, which is pretty darn good. For Lipitor®, whose sales last year for Pfizer was about 13 billion dollars, the NNT is between 16-23 for people who have had a heart attack or have definitive signs of heart disease. Not horrible, but an ok number.

So what does that number mean? To prevent one person having a heart event 16-23 people need to be taking the drug. To prevent a death, 48 people would have to take the drug for 5 years to save one life. But we are saving lives would (and is) the industry answer. Guess what? Change your lifestyle just a little bit (eat better, exercise more, stop smoking, etc) and you’ll do much better than that and you won’t have any nasty side effects.

For those of you with a risk factor like high blood pressure and no existing heart disease or heart attack history, the NNT goes to 75-200. If you have no risk factor except what the medical community would deem “high” cholesterol (over 220 mg/dl) the NNT is a ridiculous 500+ as there is no measurable reduction in deaths or serious events. Very little potential benefit, lots of profits for the pharmaceutical industry.

What about Zetia®? The NNT is an astounding 1000+. It is basically worthless. No benefits seen at all. The same can be said for the diabetes drug Avandia® which does lower blood glucose, but does not prevent any disease caused by diabetes.

“Lipitor® reduces the risk of heart attack by 36%… in patients with multiple risk factors for heart disease.” This is what Dr. Jarvik claims (as does Pfizer) in that insipid ad he appears on TV. Now let’s talk about the real numbers. In the clinical trial he mentions, three percent (3%) of the people taking placebo had a heart attack while two percent (2%) of the people taking Lipitor® had a heart attack. So, 99 people had to take Lipitor® for five years with no benefit for one person to gain a benefit over placebo to prevent a heart attack. I don’t know about you, but that isn’t a 36% improvement. Statistics lie when put into the hands of people with an agenda, especially a multi-billion dollar one.

http://www.grisoft.com Anti-Virus Scanned this message

 

[Guest guest]

After having seen the real data from the Framingham Study and running

the same statistical algorithms and seeing different results, I have

questioned the value of statin drugs for the past 12 years. The

premise of cholesterol causing heart disease, while on the surface

makes sense, it is so wrong in so many ways that it makes you

understand that pharmaceutical companies don't care about preventing

any disease, they care about the cash cows they create.

The two recordings from Dr. John Abramson and Dr. Ufe Ravinskov,

authors of " Overdosing America " and " The Cholesterol Myth " are

available here http://crayhonresearch.com/shop/boulderfest-2005-

individual-sessions-p56.html for a nominal cost. Dr. Abramson is a

professor of medicine at Harvard and has been a staunch adversary

against the overuse of many of the prescription drugs out there.

 

Mark Schauss

www.ToxicWorldBook.com

 

 

, " clare mcconville -

harris " <mc wrote:

>

> Blankthis is a three part article I feel is worth reading....

>

>

> Cholesterol Lowering Drugs are Worthless in Most Cases - Part One

> By Mark Schauss | February 15, 2008

>

> While walking through the SeaTac Airport a few weeks ago, I saw an

article in Business Week magazine that made me smile as it was saying

what I have been saying for years, which is, statin drugs really

don't prevent heart disease.

>

> Aside from the Vytorin®/Zetia® debacle, the whole idea of lowering

cholesterol (LDL especially) to prevent heart disease is nothing less

than a scam. In my book, Achieving Victory Over a Toxic World, I

devote a few pages on the medical communities fascination with LDL

and heart disease and how bogus the idea is. Well, the evidence is

coming in that I was indeed right, as were a number of researchers I

mentioned like Dr. Ufe Ravnskov and Dr. John Abramson.

>

> When I make my comments at lectures around the world about the lack

of a real link between LDL cholesterol and heart disease I get mixed

reactions. Knowledgeable health care practitioners nod in agreement

with big smiles; others grimace with a backdrop of anger and

disbelief. Individuals look mystified, bewildered and highly

skeptical. How can a guy with a doctorate in business be right when

so many physicians who have studied heart disease be wrong? If you

stay on the side that thinks statin drugs and lowering cholesterol

are proven preventive treatments for coronary heart disease after

reading this three-part blog, either you are in a major state of

denial or you are on the payroll of a pharmaceutical company that is

benefiting from the sale of these ill-conceived toxins.

>

> An important concept to understand is a number called the NNT

(Number Needed to Treat). This number tells us the number of people

that must take a drug for one person to benefit. If a drug is

perfect, than that number should be one, which means for every one

person who takes the drug, one person will benefit from it and

prevent or successfully treat the disease or syndrome.

>

> For people taking an antibiotic cocktail to kill off the bacterium

(H pylorii) that causes ulcers, the NNT is 1.1, which is pretty darn

good. For Lipitor®, whose sales last year for Pfizer was about 13

billion dollars, the NNT is between 16-23 for people who have had a

heart attack or have definitive signs of heart disease. Not horrible,

but an ok number.

>

> So what does that number mean? To prevent one person having a heart

event 16-23 people need to be taking the drug. To prevent a death, 48

people would have to take the drug for 5 years to save one life. But

we are saving lives would (and is) the industry answer. Guess what?

Change your lifestyle just a little bit (eat better, exercise more,

stop smoking, etc) and you'll do much better than that and you won't

have any nasty side effects.

>

> For those of you with a risk factor like high blood pressure and no

existing heart disease or heart attack history, the NNT goes to 75-

200. If you have no risk factor except what the medical community

would deem " high " cholesterol (over 220 mg/dl) the NNT is a

ridiculous 500+ as there is no measurable reduction in deaths or

serious events. Very little potential benefit, lots of profits for

the pharmaceutical industry.

>

> What about Zetia®? The NNT is an astounding 1000+. It is basically

worthless. No benefits seen at all. The same can be said for the

diabetes drug Avandia® which does lower blood glucose, but does not

prevent any disease caused by diabetes.

>

> " Lipitor® reduces the risk of heart attack by 36%… in patients with

multiple risk factors for heart disease. " This is what Dr. Jarvik

claims (as does Pfizer) in that insipid ad he appears on TV. Now

let's talk about the real numbers. In the clinical trial he mentions,

three percent (3%) of the people taking placebo had a heart attack

while two percent (2%) of the people taking Lipitor® had a heart

attack. So, 99 people had to take Lipitor® for five years with no

benefit for one person to gain a benefit over placebo to prevent a

heart attack. I don't know about you, but that isn't a 36%

improvement. Statistics lie when put into the hands of people with an

agenda, especially a multi-billion dollar one.

>

> http://www.grisoft.com Anti-Virus Scanned this message

>

[Guest guest]

I certainly don't have your knowledge or background, but I've been transcribing sessions from the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions and you are 100% right. When I transcribe this data, I'm astounded at what our local doctors just don't know! Can they really believe what the drug companies tell them? Are they that insulated from reality? What bothers me is that I have loved ones taking these stupid drugs just because the doctor prescribed it. They don't ask questions. They don't do research. When I try to inform them, I can see them getting annoyed with me. It's a struggle to make people believe you over someone with an MD degree, I guess. BTW: I was watching Bill Maher last night (HBO on Demand) and he said that the Jarvik ad was being pulled. It seems Dr. Jarvik isn't a cardiologist. No big deal for him - they've already paid him handsomely for promoting

their toxic product.

Never miss a thing. Make your homepage.

[Guest guest]

Most physician's are inundated with propaganada from big pharma and

no longer have the ability for critical thinking. Peer pressure keeps

them in line.

As for Jarvik, what a fraud. He didn't even invent the " Jarvik

Heart " , Paul Winchell did and Jarvik made modifications to it and

implanted it into Barney Clark's life torturing the poor man. The

heart device was known as the vampire of medical devices because of

the incredible pain it caused. The FDA had to step in and ban any

further use of it because of how it destroyed red blood cells while

pumping in peoples chests.

Jarvik never practiced medicine, never did an internship. Pfizer made

their billions so no great loss now that he is gone. Profits first,

science and your health last.

 

Mark Schauss

www.ToxicWorldBook.com

 

, Janet Shaughnessy

<janetshaughnessy7 wrote:

>

> I certainly don't have your knowledge or background, but I've been

transcribing sessions from the American Heart Association's

Scientific Sessions and you are 100% right. When I transcribe this

data, I'm astounded at what our local doctors just don't know! Can

they really believe what the drug companies tell them? Are they that

insulated from reality? What bothers me is that I have loved ones

taking these stupid drugs just because the doctor prescribed it. They

don't ask questions. They don't do research. When I try to inform

them, I can see them getting annoyed with me. It's a struggle to make

people believe you over someone with an MD degree, I guess.

>

> BTW: I was watching Bill Maher last night (HBO on Demand) and he

said that the Jarvik ad was being pulled. It seems Dr. Jarvik isn't a

cardiologist. No big deal for him - they've already paid him

handsomely for promoting their toxic product.

>

>

>

> Never miss a thing. Make your homepage.

>