Just Say No to Statins

Dr MercolaStory at-a-glanceWidespread myths about lowering your cholesterol with statins to improve your heart health still permeate modern medicineA comprehensive review of the literature, published in 2018, found that LDL cholesterol does not cause heart disease, so statins’ ability to lower LDL is of dubious valueOver a five-year period, taking a statin once you’ve had a heart attack will only increase your life expectancy by four daysJust like COVID-19, they manipulated the statistics and grossly exaggerated statin benefits by conflating relative and absolute risks. If you take a statin, your chance of a heart attack is only 1.1% lower than if you’re not taking it: that is your absolute, not relative, riskEven though public health perpetuates the notion that lower LDL cholesterol is better, there’s no consistent relationship between lowering LDL with statins and death, heart attack or stroke

In the U.S. alone, 40 million adults take statin cholesterol-lowering medications in the mistaken belief that this will reduce their risk of heart disease.1 But lowering your cholesterol is not the panacea to heart health that you’ve been led to believe.

On “The Joe Rogan Experience,” Dr. Aseem Malhotra, an interventional cardiologist consultant from the U.K., speaks out about the overprescribing of statins for heart disease — and the widespread myths about cholesterol and your heart that still permeate modern medicine.2

Only Extremely High Levels Were a Problem

The Framingham Study, which began in 1948, involved 5,209 people from Massachusetts.3 It was instrumental in starting the myth that high total cholesterol is a major risk factor for heart disease, but what many people don’t realize is the correlation only existed if cholesterol was over 300 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dl). “Very few people have total cholesterol that high,” Malhotra says.4

Further, he believes, your cholesterol levels are 80% genetics. In your body, cholesterol is necessary for maintaining cell membranes and it plays a role in the immune system and synthesizing hormones and vitamin D.

In the Framingham Study, the majority of people with cholesterol levels over 300 mg/dl had a genetic condition called familial hyperlipidemia, which leads to very high levels of cholesterol. About 1 in 250 people have this condition, according to Malhotra.5

What also wasn’t widely publicized about the Framingham Study was what occurred in people who were in their 50s, 60s and beyond. In this age range, as cholesterol dropped, mortality rate increased. “So, the association of cholesterol and heart disease is quite weak, first and foremost,” Malhotra says.6

Malhotra and colleagues conducted a study to determine if a correlation exists with lowering LDL cholesterol and total cholesterol and preventing heart attacks and strokes, and no clear correlation was found. “This is based upon randomized, controlled trial data, so this is the most robust evidence you can get,” he says.7

LDL Cholesterol Doesn’t Cause Heart Disease

In the context of statins, Malhotra says, they do lower LDL cholesterol, but they also have anti-inflammatory and anti-clotting properties, and this is where any benefit comes in for preventing heart attacks and strokes. However, if you’re at low risk of heart disease, this benefit amounts to only about 1%. Among those who’ve had a heart attack, the benefits aren’t much better.

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Malhotra points out that, over that five-year period, taking a statin once you’ve had a heart attack will only increase your life expectancy by four days.9 Further, a comprehensive review of the literature, published in 2018, found that LDL cholesterol does not cause heart disease, so statins’ ability to lower LDL is of dubious value:

[…]

The review delved into three reviews published by statin advocates, which claimed to support the LDL cholesterol-heart disease link.

However, the authors noted, serious errors were involved in their research, along with other “obvious falsification of the cholesterol hypothesis … the conclusions of the authors of the three reviews are based on misleading statistics, exclusion of unsuccessful trials and by ignoring numerous contradictory observations.”10

[…]Statins Don’t Protect Your Heart

Despite the questions surrounding their safety and effectiveness, statins are recommended for four broad patient populations:12

Those who have already had a cardiovascular eventAdults with diabetesIndividuals with LDL cholesterol levels ≥190 mg/dLIndividuals with an estimated 10-year cardiovascular risk ≥7.5% (based on algorithm that uses your age, gender, blood pressure, total cholesterol, high density lipoproteins (HDL), race and history of diabetes to predict the likelihood you’ll experience a heart attack in the coming 10 years)

Even though statins are prescribed for these sizeable groups, and “target” cholesterol levels have been achieved, a systematic review of 35 randomized, controlled trials found that no additional benefits were gained.

[…]

Even in the case of recurrent cardiovascular events — and despite an increase in statin use from 1999 to 2013 — researchers writing in BMC Cardiovascular Disorders noted, “there was only a small decrease in the incidence of recurrent CVD, and this occurred mainly in older patients without statins prescribed.”14

Cholesterol Treatment Trialists Monopolize Statin Debate

Rory Collins heads up the Cholesterol Treatment Trialists’ (CTT) collaboration, a group of doctors and scientists who analyze study data and report their findings to regulators and policymakers.15 Collins coauthored a 2008 study16 that claims statins lower your risk of heart attack by 36%.

Table 417 in this study shows the rate of heart attack in the placebo group was 3.1% while the statin group’s rate was 2% — a 36% reduction in relative risk. However, the absolute risk reduction — the actual difference between the two groups, i.e., 3.1% minus 2% — is only 1.1%, which isn’t very impressive.

In the real world, if you take a statin your chance of a heart attack is only 1.1% lower than if you’re not taking it, as Malhotra told Joe Rogan. Just like COVID-19, the drug companies manipulated their statistics and grossly exaggerated statin benefits by conflating relative and absolute risks.

Collins is also noteworthy, as he spearheaded an attack against Malhotra by contacting the British Medical Journal and demanding it retract one of Malhotra’s studies, which cited a statistic that statins cause side effects in 18% to 20% of people who take them.18 Rather than retract the study, an independent panel reviewed the study, calling only for a correction to be added:19

“The corrections explain that, although the 18-20% figure was based on statements in the referenced observational study by Zhang et al — which said that “the rate of reported statin related events to statins was nearly 18%,” the articles in The BMJ did not reflect necessary caveats and did not take sufficient account of the uncontrolled nature of the data of Zhang et al.”

Malhotra pointed out that, had the article been retracted, it would have been career-destroying for him, as it would have damaged his credibility. “I was on trial, essentially, for two months,” he says, “and it was very tough.” But when the panel came back, it voted 6-0, unanimous in favor of Malhotra’s study. “There was no call for retraction.”20

No Relationship Between LDL, Risk of Heart Attack

Other research has also found unimpressive results for statin treatment, including a systematic review and meta-analysis of 21 trials21 using similar criteria to the CTT.22

One of the authors, Maryanne Demasi, Ph.D., explained the study “found no consistent relationship between lowering LDL-C with statins and death, heart attack or stroke,” even though the “public health mantra about cholesterol has always been ‘the lower the better.’”23,24 It also once again highlighted the misleading nature of using relative risk reduction in place of absolute risk:25

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Statins Will Wreck Your Health

In short, statin drugs have not derailed the rising trend of heart disease, and instead have put users at increased risk of health conditions linked to their use, such as diabetes,26,27 dementia28 and others, including:

Cancer29Cataracts30Musculoskeletal disorders, including myalgia, muscle weakness, muscle cramps, rhabdomyolysis and autoimmune muscle disease31Depression32

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Via https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2023/05/27/just-say-no-to-statins.aspx