A recent study in the BMJ Open Journal may be the final nail in the coffin for industry-recommended treatment of high cholesterol—indeed, with the very contention that high cholesterol is a health problem at all. The study concluded the following about LDL-C (the supposed ‘bad’ cholesterol):
High LDL-C is inversely associated with mortality in most people over 60 years. This finding is inconsistent with the cholesterol hypothesis (ie, that cholesterol, particularly LDL-C, is inherently atherogenic). Since elderly people with high LDL-C live as long or longer than those with low LDL-C, our analysis provides reason to question the validity of the cholesterol hypothesis.
As noted, the study refers to claims that ‘high cholesterol causes plaque buildup in arteries (atherogenisis) that lead to an increased risk of heart disease’ as a hypothesis. One can wonder how often a doctor has told his patient “I recommend that you take Lipitor because there is an unproven hypothesis out there that says high cholesterol is bad for you?”
Industry Strategy
The insidious strategy of the pharmaceutical industry is coming more widely into view. They have millions of dollars to do research, and what do they spend those millions of dollars on? Finding ways to convince the public they need to be taking more drugs so that those millions of dollars of research lead to billions of dollars of profit.
If anyone is still under the illusion that pharmaceutical industry research has ANYTHING to do with the promotion of human health, one need only look at the voluminous statistics that in the Western world we are getting sicker in direct proportion to the increase in the consumption of pharmaceutical drugs.
This One Stuck
In the case of the risks of ‘high cholesterol,’ this is looking like one of many pieces of spaghetti that the industry has thrown against the wall that actually stuck. And boy, did they run with it. The public, it seems, was ready to buy into the ‘conceivable’ idea that as this substance called ‘cholesterol’ increases in our bodies, we are at higher risk for heart disease.
The result? The creation of cholesterol-reducing pharmaceutical drugs known as statins that have been an absolute cash cow for the industry: the cholesterol drug Lipitor has itself become the most profitable medication of all time—raking in more than $140 billion in sales.
All this without even discussing the health risks associated with statins, risks which of course are hidden by the industry. You can read more about the danger of statins here.
Complicit Doctors
The complicity of doctors, some of whom act as unabashed footsoldiers of the army called Big Pharma, is an important part of the public relations side of it. Once the idea of a new form of illness takes hold in the public mind, all hands are called on deck. Natural News reported in 2013 that the push to get even more U.S. adults on statins was facilitated by doctors tied to the industry. Physicians with the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology issued new guidelines at that time calling for one-third of all adults to consider taking statins.
More recently, the industry is redoubling its efforts to push statins on children who show signs of elevated LDL-C levels based on a host of conditions. Will this insatiable hunger on the part of the pharmaceutical industry to invade our bodies and lives with dangerous synthetic chemicals ever cease?
Cholesterol Is Actually Healthy
Again, our awareness is the key. And on this particular issue, we need to become aware that our cholesterol levels themselves are simply not to be tampered with. This article by Dr. Joseph Mercola helps us understand how essential cholesterol is not only to humans but to all life forms. It also addresses how there is not really ‘good’ and ‘bad’ cholesterol.
Sally Fallon, the president of the Weston A. Price Foundation, and Mary Enig, Ph.D, an expert in lipid biochemistry, have gone so far as to call high cholesterol “an invented disease, a ‘problem’ that emerged when health professionals learned how to measure cholesterol levels in the blood.”
Taking Back Our Power
Alluding to the recent research, Professor Sherif Sultan from the University of Ireland says, “Lowering cholesterol with medications for primary cardiovascular prevention in those aged over 60 is a total waste of time and resources, whereas altering your lifestyle is the single most important way to achieve a good quality of life.” This is not only good advice for the elderly but for all of us.
The process by which we take our power back from those who would control our health demands our courage to be responsible for and knowledgeable about our own health and wellbeing. We have to stop blindly submitting ourselves to the recommendations of ‘experts’ who often turn out to be shills for powerful pharmaceutical corporations, and instead integrate the way we live our lives with a more natural and holistic approach to overall health and disease prevention.