New Research on Statin drugs

A new report, published in the British Medical Journal, researched the effects of statins for over two million users of the drug, including 225,000 patients who had

recently started taking the medicine. 

Statins are prescribed to lower cholesterol levels and therefore prevent cardiac diseases in those who are most susceptible to heart attacks, strokes or peripheral artery disease. This is achieved by interfering with the liver’s job of producing cholesterol, whilst helping the liver absorb more bad cholesterol from your blood. It

is generally regarded that statins are a long-term solution to high-cholesterol issues and therefore most users of the drug are expected to be on it for life.

The study concluded that statins did reduce the chances of heart disease by 2.7% but unfortunately the side-effects caused by the medication affected 4.4% of the participants. 

These ranged from liver damage to cataracts, acute kidney failure and extreme muscle weakness. 

To detail this further, they found for every 10,000 women on statins there were 271 fewer cases of heart disease but 74 cases of liver damage and 307 cases of cataracts.

Given the potentially serious side-effects which have been described in the report and the long-term use that is often attributed with statins, it may be worth  considering talking through other options with your homeopath and addressing the underlying causes of your cholesterol problems before embarking on the statins route.

(http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/340/may19_4/c2197m)

This article was first published in the ARH Newsletter, "Homeopathy Healthy Medicine".