Statins — Saviours of mankind, or expensive hoax

Over the last decade and a half a new class of drugs has been introduced to lower cholesterol levels. Although they are heralded as being completely safe, there is another side to them.

The drugs concerned are called STATINS.

Which cholesterol-lowering statin is best? Your guess is as good as mine, as study findings depend on who has funded the research.

Study showing that the use of statins causes nerve damage.

Although there is not, and never has been, any convincing evidence that levels of serum cholesterol have any causal relationship with coronary heart disease, that hasn't stopped the cholesterol hypothesis being used as a basis for the sale of drugs to lower cholesterol.

This paper, published by Michael Babcock in 2003, is both informative and easy to read. It discusses what statins are, looks at the 10 major trials and discusses who should and, more importantly, who should not take statins. It also looks in detail at the known side effects of statins – about which your doctor might tell you!

This book by a highly qualified doctor tells the story of his complete loss of memory when he took the cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor.

See also www.Cholesterol-and-Health.org.uk, an easy to read website about this whole topic from what cholesterol is, why you need it, and how it is made in the body, to what happens if you take cholesterol-lowering drugs such as statins.