Once again a concerted, coordinated approach to mislead the public into believing in the existence of a miracle pill in the form of a statin drug is underway. Don’t fall for it!
What is all this about?
Over the last few days there have been headlines all over the world about what I am going to tell you. If you haven’t seen them yet, it won’t be long before you do, or, hear about them. Here are a few examples.
“Statin cuts stroke risk in healthy folk: Study”
"It's a breakthrough study, it's a blockbuster. It's absolutely paradigm-shifting."
"A highly anticipated study has produced powerful evidence that a simple blood test can spot seemingly healthy people who are at increased risk for a heart attack or stroke and that giving them a widely used drug offers potent protection against the nation's leading killers."
“Heart attack risks cut by 50%”
These headlines are not limited to the USA. They are world wide. I was on an airplane between New Zealand and Singapore a couple of days ago and I picked up newspapers from Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia and they were all singing the same tune and obviously had been receiving the same news releases from the public relations firms coordinating the ‘assault’.
Well, you are probably thinking, “what’s wrong with this?” After all if a risk of a heart attack could be cut by 50%, then surely that is good!
Agreed…but, is it really that good or just a manipulation of figures which are technically correct but misleading if only part of the picture is painted.
I’ll explain.
The study (discontinued after two years) sponsored by the manufacturers of Crestor, (a potent statin drug that was originally rejected by the FDA because of its many dangerous side effects) found that compared to a placebo the statin drug reduced the level of C-Reactive Protein in the blood which in turn resulted in a reduction of the number of patients over a 2 year period who either died, suffered a heart attack or stroke.
The reduction was 50%. Sound good doesn’t it until you put it into perspective.
Of all those who were not taking the statin drug 1.8% of them suffered from one of the above events over the two year period. But…the number of those patients taking the drug and who suffered from one of the above was less at 0.9%...a reduction of 50%.
This is where the 50% reduction of risk comes from.
To put this into a clearer perspective! The volunteers had a 1.8 chance in 100 of suffering from one of the above ‘events’ if they did nothing…but, if they took the statin drug their odds improved to a 0.9 chance in 100 of having an ‘event’.
Doesn’t look so impressive when you look at it that way does it?
I would hazard a guess that if the people on the placebo had substituted it with an Omega 3 capsule every day that the results may well have been balanced out…and if I may dare say so if they added Total Balance to the Omega 3 that they may have been 50% better than the statin drug!
Added to this they would not run the risk of CoQ10 depletion, possible muscle damage, liver damage, possible impotency and memory loss. Instead their overall health would improve markedly.
Interestingly the study was abruptly stopped after two years. The reason…it was not fair on the people taking the placebo! Or, could it have been that the side effects were starting to take its toll?
What is C-Reactive Protein all about?
C-Reactive Protein (CRP) has long been known to be a marker of a potential ‘heart event’ and interestingly I have been writing about it for the last eight years and urging readers to have it tested when they have their cholesterol and triglycerides checked.
However, it has been largely ignored by the medical industry as there was not a suitable drug to deal with it. And…there was no need for one either as there is plenty of natural options for dealing with inflammation in the blood.
For example, the correct form of a broad spectrum Vitamin E has been shown to reduce inflammation by 32% which is only marginally less than what the statin drug at 37% achieved on this study.
Other natural substances may even be more effective in reducing inflammation, particularly if taken synergistically…such as Omega 3 fish oil and a number of other natural substances. For more info on inflammation please click here.
If you study more about inflammation you will become incensed at the audacity of this study but even more annoyed at those supposedly knowledgeable people in the medical industry and the authorities who allow this type of nonsense to become mainstream media events and thus contribute to irrevocable harm to the health of our nations people, not to mention the ultimate economic costs.
In good health,
Warren Matthews