New recruits Statins. It's pretty clear that, if you truly want to protect yourself from heart disease, you can't live with them. But mainstream medicine wants to make sure you can't live without them either. In January two completely conflicting studies emerged about these drugs. First, a study out of the UK made one of the most sweeping -- and scariest -- recommendations I've ever encountered in my years in the health publishing industry. After reviewing 14 studies that collectively included roughly 19,000 people with diabetes, researchers from Oxford University concluded that all diabetics should be on statins, regardless of whether they're currently at risk for heart disease. They're basing this blanket recommendation on the fact that, according to their analysis, "standard daily treatment with statins would prevent about one third of heart attacks and strokes in people with diabetes." They found that for every 1,000 diabetics taking statins on a daily basis, 42 fewer of these patients experienced serious cardiovascular-related problems. Of course, there was no mention of how many people out of 1,000 experienced either the adverse effects associated with these drugs or the problems that surfaced in the second statin study to make headlines last month. Just days after the UK study sparked what could have been a run on statins, another study cast a huge shadow over these cholesterol-lowering drugs. Researchers discovered that two of the pharmaceutical industry's biggest sellers, Vytorin and Zetia, don't even work. In all fairness, Zetia isn't technically a statin. But, according to this latest research, it doesn't seem to matter one way or the other since the drug is essentially useless. According to the chairman of the department of cardiovascular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic, Zetia "has not been shown to produce any health benefits." And Vytorin is nothing more than the inept Zetia combined with simvastatin -- which you might know by its brand name, Zocor. This combo was even worse than useless: The researchers found that people taking it actually had more plaque buildup in their arteries than people taking the statin on its own. But just because simvastatin appeared to offer better results when it was flying solo doesn't mean it's -- or any of its cousins are -- risk free. These drugs have had tarnished reputations for years, and while they're still a huge cash cow for Big Pharma, more and more people are looking for alternatives that A.) actually work and B.) don't put them at risk for other problems. Of course, if the mainstream decides to send in reinforcements by handing all diabetics -- a group that continues to grow by leaps and bounds -- prescriptions for these drugs, the pharmaceutical industry doesn't need to worry about a few non-believers dropping from the ranks. The fact is, statins are here to stay. But that doesn't mean they need to be a part of your life. Dr. Wright has written many articles over the years about keeping your heart healthy naturally with things like fish oil, policosanol, and red yeast rice. To access these articles, Nutrition & Healing subscribers can log on to the archive by visiting www.wrightnewsletter.com and entering the username and password listed in your most recent issue. Sources:
"Statins for all diabetics urged," BBC News (www.news.bbc.co.uk), 1/11/08
"Efficacy of cholesterol-lowering therapy in 18,686 people with diabetes in 14 randomized trials of statins," The Lancet 2008; 371(9607); 117
"Study casts doubt on Vytorin, Zetia," WebMD Medical News (www.webmd.com), 1/15/08 | 
