The Insanity Continues—Statins for Children
by Dr. Rodger Murphree, D.C.
The over-hyped, pharmaceutical fueled, disease known as hypercholesterolemia has now reached an all time level of insanity.
Insanity. In-san-i-ty. Function: noun. a: extreme folly or unreasonableness b: something utterly foolish or unreasonable.
Ex: “The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends cholesterol screenings for children who are two years or older, greater use of cholesterol-lowering drugs, such as statins, for a select group of kids who are eight or older at risk, and low fat diets.”
There is no better example of pure insanity than the recent announcement by the AAP to begin screening two-year-olds for high cholesterol and placing eight-year-olds on statin drugs! One statin, Pravachol, has already been approved by the FDA for use in children as young as eight.
This absurd advice is being offered even though statin drugs have never been tested on young children, have not been proven to increase longevity or reduce the number of cardiovascular deaths (compared to control groups), have actually been shown to have a one percent greater risk of death over ten years compared to those not taking statin drugs, and are associated with numerous life robbing side effects!
The medical profession and its societies, including the AAP, have been hoodwinked by pharmaceutical propaganda and obviously haven’t read my book, Heart Disease What Your Doctor Won’t Tell You, or the dozens of other books which report the dangers of statins, which list numerous studies showing that statin drugs don’t lower the death rate for those with cardiovascular risk.
In just one meta-analysis, analyzing forty-four trials involving almost 10,000 patients, the death rate was identical, at one percent of patients in each of the three groups—those taking atorvastatin (Lipitor), those taking other statins and those taking nothing.
Taking statins for one year raised the risk of polyneuropathy and nerve damage by about 15 percent—about one case for every 2,200 patients. For those who took statins for two or more years, the additional risk rose to 26 percent. The damage is often irreversible.
Numerous studies find that low cholesterol is just as, if not more, dangerous than elevated cholesterol. In nineteen large studies of more than 68,000 deaths, reviewed by Professor David Jacobs from the Division of Epidemiology at the University of Minnesota, low cholesterol predicted an increased risk of dying from gastrointestinal and respiratory diseases.
An article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association reveals that, in every study with rodents to date, statins have caused cancer. In the CARE Trial, breast cancer rates of those taking a statin went up 1500 percent.
Cholesterol is one of the most potent antioxidants, protecting us from cancer and toxic free radicals.
It is the precursor to adrenal cortex hormones (cortisol, DHEA, testosterone, estradiol, progesterone, etc.), which are crucial for regulating moods, the immune system, and stress coping abilities. Cholesterol facilitates the production of vitamin D, produces bile salts required for the digestion of fat, and is vital to proper neurological function. It plays a key role in the formation of neurotransmitters in the brain, including serotonin, the body’s feel-good chemical. When cholesterol levels drop too low, the serotonin receptors become dysfunctional. Poor memory, anxiety, and depression are byproducts of low cholesterol levels. I can’t think of a more dangerous scenario than having children take statin drugs for the rest of their lives. Surely this has the pharmaceutical industry foaming at the mouth as they contemplate all the additional drugs needed to counter the side effects of these statin drugs—antidepressants for low moods, Ritalin for poor mental clarity, and maybe some Lyrica for the statin induced polyneuropathy.
And what about the APA recommendation for low fat milk? The low fat diet myth is just as dangerous as the medical myths associated with cholesterol. Various nutritional experts, including Sally Fallon, Mary G. Enig, and Marion Dearth, authors of Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook That Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats, have voiced their opinions on the fact that saturated fats aren’t harmful to our health. Saturated fats are needed for proper absorption of calcium. These valuable fats also help protect the liver from alcohol and other toxins. Saturated fats enhance the immune system. And, they help with the retention and utilization of essential fatty acids. Our bodies, especially young maturing bodies and minds (70 percent of brain matter is fat), need both polyunsaturated as well as saturated fats.
Research shows that there is no evidence that saturated fats are bad for health, and plenty of evidence that saturated fats actually prevent both cardiovascular disease and stroke.
In fact, the fatty acids found in clogged arteries are mostly unsaturated (74 percent), of which 41 percent are polyunsaturated. Avoid trans-fats, yes; but advocating low fat diets to reduce the incidence of cardiovascular disease is just another sign of just how crazy the APA and other medical groups who suggest this have become.
Low-fat diets don’t alter mortality rates associated with cardiovascular disease. In fact, it’s been shown that low fat, low cholesterol diets cause a whole host of health problems, including increased death, depression, suicide, and hormonal imbalances. The American Heart Association and others have advocated a low saturated fat diet as a way to lower the risk for heart disease for two-plus decades. But the research doesn’t show this approach to be valid. In fact, Americans have steadily reduced their consumption of animal-based saturated fats over the last sixty years. While consumption of cholesterol actually rose one percent, saturated fat was reduced from 83 percent to 62 percent over this sixty-year period. While saturated fats were being decreased, polyunsaturated fats increased. This was especially true for man-made trans fatty acid laden polyunsaturated fats, which increased during this period by over 400 percent. Our sugar consumption increased by 60 percent. Trans fats, sugar and inflammation are the enemies of cardiovascular disease, not saturated fat and certainly not cholesterol. For more information about the true cause of cardiovascular disease, see my past article, “It’s the Inflammation, Stupid.”
If the insanity continues, and I’m sure it will, it won’t be long before the pharmaceutical industry brainwashes the APA into believing that children need to be vaccinated for cholesterol.
Dr. Murphree is a board certified nutritional specialist and chiropractic physician who has been in private practice since 1990. He is the author of five books for patients and doctors, Treating and Beating Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Heart Disease What Your Doctor Won’t Tell You, and Treating and Beating Anxiety and Depression with Orthomolecular Medicine. To contact Dr. Murphree or for more information about his Doctors VIP One-on-One Nutritional Coaching Program, visit www.Essentialthera.com or call 1-888-884-9577.
References
1. Hecht HS, Harmon SM. Am J Cardiol 2003; 92:670-676
2. Gaist D and others. Neurology 2002 May 14;58(9):1321-2.
3. Jacobs D and others. Report of the conference on low blood cholesterol: Mortality associations. Circulation 86, 1046–1060, 1992.
4. Ravnskov U. BMJ. 1992;305:15-19.
5. Jackson PR. Br J Clin Pharmacol 2001;52:439-46.
6. Sacks FM and others. N Eng J Med 1996;385;1001–1009.
7. Bruno Bertozzi, et al. Correspondance , British Medical Journal, 1996:312:1289-99.
8. Ottoboni A and F, The Modern Nutritional Diseases, 2002, pp36–7). Lancet 1994 344:1195.
9. Watkins, B A, and M F Seifert, “Food Lipids and Bone Health,” Food Lipids and Health, R E McDonald and D B Min, eds, p 101, Marcel Dekker, Inc, New York, NY, 1996.
10. Murphree, Rodger D.C. Heart Disease What Your Doctor Won’t Tell You. Harrison and Hampton Publishing Inc. Birmingham, AL 2005