Statins: Big Dangers, Little Benefit

Since statins were introduced in the 1980s, doctors have prescribed them to millions of Americans. But do they work? And are they dangerous? Statins may reduce the risk of dying from heart attack or stroke somewhat, but, Dr. Russell Blaylock tells Newsmax Health, "the results are overblown." In addition, according to Dr. Blaylock, renowned neurosurgeon and editor of the Blaylock Wellness Report, the drugs may have serious side effects. They include: • Peripheral neuropathy. Damage to the peripheral nervous system can cause tingling, numbness, and prickling of the hands and feet as well as temporary numbness. More severe symptom include burning pain and paralysis. "This is a very crippling condition, and the pain can be severe," says Dr. Blaylock. "One well-done study found that even when using a lower dose, the incidence of severe motor and sensory neuropathy increased some 14-fold." • Muscle damage. "Symptoms of muscle damage include severe muscle weakness, intense muscle pains and disabling fatigue," says Dr. Blaylock. "Studies have shown that significant muscle damage occurs with long-term use of statins." • Kidney damage. Over time, the breakdown of muscle tissue damaged by statins releases a protein called myoglobin into the bloodstream, which is filtered by the kidneys and eliminated from the body. Myoglobin degrades into substances that damage the kidneys. This process can cause a condition caused rhabdolomyolysis, a form of kidney damage that can be fatal, says Dr. Blaylock. • Heart failure. A healthy heart is dependent on CoQ10, but statins deplete this vital nutrient. "Because statins inhibit the same enzyme used to manufacture both cholesterol and CoQ10, one sees severe depletion in CoQ10," says Dr. Blaylock. "This has been linked to the dramatic increase in heart failure seen since the introduction of this medication. Those with preexisting heart disease are at the greatest risk." Researchers at the East Texas Medical Center found that after taking the statin drug Lipitor for six months, 66 percent of patients developed heart problems similar to those that can lead to heart failure, probably due to statin's side effect of depleting the body's store of CoQ10. • Immune suppression. An Italian study showed that the statin drug simvastatin unfortunately gives a one-two punch to the immune system. Scientists found that simvastatin (sold under the names of Zocor and Simvacor) first hinders the ability of the body's immune cells to kill pathogens, then second, increases the production of cytokines, which trigger and sustain inflammation. • Diabetes risk. A British study found that high-dose statins increased the risk of developing diabetes by up to 12 percent. • Mental function. A deficiency of CoQ10 caused by statins can cause mental confusion, memory loss, and transit global amnesia (TGA). This was the case with NASA astronaut Dr. Duane Graveline, who suffered temporary amnesia after starting statin drugs. • Increased cancer risk. Although a recent study claimed statins reduce the risk of dying from prostate cancer, that's not true, says Dr. Blaylock. "Statins are more likely to raise your risk of developing prostate cancer — or any cancer — because they are powerful immune suppressants," he says. According to Dr. Blaylock, other studies that involved more men and were conducted by top researchers showed that statins increased the incidence of aggressive prostate cancer in obese men. A number of other problems have been linked to statins including cataracts, liver dysfunction, and rashes. Far too often, Dr. Blaylock says, people plagued by statins' side effects are receiving no heart benefits from the drug. "A recent analysis demonstrates that people are being over-treated by these medications — the truth is that a great number of people with elevated cholesterol levels are not in reality at an increased risk of heart attacks or death from heart attacks," he said. "The best results with statins are seen in the highest risk individuals, that is, people who already have extensive atherosclerosis," says Dr. Blaylock. "Even then, the results are no better than taking one aspirin a day. In fact, the numbers are the same." The results of statin studies, some of which claim to find that statins lower the risk of heart attack in some groups of people by over 50 percent are massaged to sound impressive when they're not, says Dr. Blaylock. "For example, one commonly sees ads saying that Lipitor, for instance, lowers the incidence of heart attack death by 30 percent," says Dr. Blaylock. "In actual numbers, it is lowering the risk from 6 percent to 4 percent in an individual — that is, an actual 2 percent reduction. But mathematically, 4 percent is about 30 percent lower than 6 percent. "To the individual," says Dr. Blaylock, "this means that he or she has a 94 percent chance of not dying of a heart attack without statins and a 96 percent chance using statins — not a very impressive difference. Drug companies use such statistical manipulation for advertising. "Since statins came out in the 80s, the incidence of heart attacks and strokes haven't changed," says Dr. Blaylock. If statins worked the way the pharmaceutical studies say they do, the numbers of strokes and heart attacks, he says "should have fallen dramatically. "Curcumin, quercetin, ellagic acid, mixed tocopherols, mixed tocotrienols, vitamin C, magnesium, and mixed carotenoids all safely reduce the risk of strokes and heart attacks and are far more effective than statins," says Dr. Blaylock.