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Monday 11 April 2016

Dr Aseem Malhotra : The Great Statin Con?

It’s time to stop buying into the great statin con, says Dr. Aseem Malhotra. The benefits have been greatly exaggerated and the side effects have been downplayed, as our knowledge is completely based on studies from the statin industry.

Side effects include muscle pain, weakness, feeling tired, and slightly reduced IQ. Also, for every one hundred people taking statins for a few years one extra person will develop diabetes type 2.

Apparently newer and more rigorously controlled studies (after 2006) on statins show overall no significant benefit at all.

Considering all this statins should probably only be prescribed to people at very high risk of heart disease (usually only people with pre-existing disease). Certainly not to a large part of the healthy population.

This article seen in Diet Doctor and on Huffington Post

Do please click on the green links above and read more, the Huffington Post link contains Dr Malhotra's full article ...


All the best Jan

7 comments:

Linda Kay said...

Better be asking my Dr. about these, as I take one.

Tara said...

I take because it's given regularly to diabetics. My choloestrol was never high in the first place -- simply preventative. I, too, will have a discussion with my doc about this.

Lowcarb team member said...

This post may also be of interest to readers, titled "Many women needlessly take cholesterol-lowering drugs" see it here:
http://thelowcarbdiabetic.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/many-women-needlessly-take-cholesterol.html

All the best Jan

Launna said...

I really wish I had read this a few years ago when I took cholesterol medication ... the side effects were NOT worth it... I am still dealing with the muscle weakness after I stopped taking it a few years ago. Thankfully the side effects were limited and I stopped taking them immediately when the weakness started and I will never take it again... Have a really great week xox

Anonymous said...

I have to admit I have concerns about Dr Malhotra Jan, my neurologist seemed very concerned that I was considering giving up statins after having a stroke. The reason for my worry and thoughts about giving up statins being various anti-statin articles on the internet.Why is he advocating against NHS advice? My neurologist said basically that you have to throw everything you have against atherosclerosis because the consequences of a further stroke can be so devastating,I'm only 52 so will keep taking them, I also suffered from severe asthma which completely disappeared after about 3 weeks on statins and now I read they are researching statins as a treatment for asthma.
Thanks,Nell.

Lowcarb team member said...

Hi Nell ...
Dr Malhotra is known as one of the most outspoken cardiologists in Britain, Dr Aseem Malhotra is successfully leading the campaign against excess sugar consumption... not my words but taken from Dr Malhotra's blog which can be found here
http://doctoraseem.com/

The low carb diabetic does bring a variety of articles / posts / studies etc. which we hope will be of interest to our readers.

We are not medical professionals and can only speak from personal findings as other's who comment on the blog do to.

If any reader has any health concerns it is always important to discuss them with your own GP / medical team.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and comments with us.

As it's Friday night as I type this, and with the weekend almost here, may I wish you a good one.

All the best Jan

chris c said...

I was on simvastatin for years without any side effects (I stopped and restarted them a couple of times to be certain). Recently I told my GP I had stopped them again permanently as I've reached the age where high "cholesterol" is actually protective, and was concentrating on improving the QUALITY of my lipoproteins rather than reducing the QUANTITY.

Pleasantly she didn't disagree, although of course she HAS TO prescribe them. Like most drugs they are beneficial to certain people with certain conditions but are then marketed to everyone else. Even then (middle aged males who already have heart disease) the benefits are fairly minimal compared to what the manufacturers claim.