Comments on: The lipid hypothesis

By: mreades

mreades — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 07:03:29 +0000

I might consider changing doctors. I would also seriously consider taking some CoQ10 to see if it helps with the post-statin muscle weakness. Good luck. I hope you get better.

By: Fred

Fred — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 01:43:01 +0000

Dear Dr Eades as I still have generalised weakness long after stopping statins, my Dr sent me for a Doppler Ultra Sound scan. This showed “exemplary” arteries. My Dr seemed angry about this since I’m 63, diabetic with high cholesterol and won’t take my statins
Fred

By: Fred

Fred — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 19:59:57 +0000

Sara yes that’s right. I was just addressing another issue as well Fred

By: Sara

Sara — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 17:37:32 +0000

Fred, that’s not my point at all. What I was saying is that unless the 50% of the general population who has high cholesterol and the 50% of the general population who have heart attacks are the same 50% (which they are not, because only 50% of people who have heart attacks also have high cholesterol), the relationship between high cholesterol and heart attacks is likely spurious, not causal. It proves nothing about cholesterol causing heart attacks.

By: Fred

Fred — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 19:54:18 +0000

Sara at last someone who understands the point I was making. BTW it’s not much use saying statins treat a number not a disease; hypertension is a number as well (well 2 numbers). So is high blood sugar. Neither usually gives symptoms. Is it being suggested we ignore high blood pressure and high blood sugar?

By: Sara

Sara — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 21:30:09 +0000

I realize I’m very late to the game here, but according to http://www.answers.com/topic/cholesterol-high, the FDA says half the adult population has “high cholesterol”. If, in accordance with Dr. Eades statistic, half of the people who have heart attack also have “high cholesterol”, this means that cholesterol is effectively irrelevant in predicting heart attacks.

Interesting.

By: Michael McEvoy CNC CMTA

Michael McEvoy CNC CMTA — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 05:37:44 +0000

Viruses don’t cause disease, neither do germs, bacteria, parasites or fungus. They can only cause harm if the internal environment supports their existence and promulgation.
Pasteur got it dead wrong, and admitted it on his deathbed. Antoine Bechamp was the real genius, but he was not lauded by European aristocracy like Louis was.

So we live in the germ theory paradigm. Fiction.

By: Ricardo

Ricardo — Wed, 20 May 2009 21:02:49 +0000

Are we living the last days of the Lipid Hypothesis?

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19081406
http://download.journals.elsevierhealth.com/pdfs/journals/0002-8703/PIIS0002870308007175.pdf
http://astute.cardiosource.com/2007/vposters/pdf/275_Fonarow.pdf
http://www.cholesterol-and-health.org.uk/hdl-ldl-2.html

We can only hope. But as long as there are lipid-lowering drugs to sell, the lipid hypothesis will have legs.

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 11 May 2009 22:28:51 +0000

I will give the low-carb diet a shot. BTW, I found my Lab Results. Is there any area I should be more/less concerned about?
Triglycerides – 60mg/dl
Cholesterol, Total – 241 mg/dl
HDL Cholesterol 48 mg/dl
LDL Cholesterol 181 mg/dl
Total Cholesterol/HDL Ratio – 5.0
Thyroid Stimulating Hormone – 2.151 mU/L

Thanks for the quick response!

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 05 May 2009 21:35:28 +0000

Hey Dr. Mike,
Great article. I have been reading up on the lipid hypothesis ever since I was diagnosed with high cholesterol.
You see, I am a healthy 31 yr old man who maintains a reasonable diet (5′10″ 175lbs). I try to stay away from Trans and Sat Fats and I also try to stay active. However, my doctor wants to put me on statins because of my cholesterol. My HDL is 55, and my LDL was around 140 if I recall correctly. I can’t remember what my triglyceride levels were at.
The trouble is, my parents both have high cholesterol and warn me about statins because of the muscle soreness they encountered. Now, however, I’m EXTREMELY paranoid about my arteries slowly being clogged. Is there any advice you could give me? Any encouraging words? I’m not on any medication, and like I said (other than the high cholesterol) I’m strong and healthy.

Just do a search in the search function on ’statins’ and you’ll find plenty to keep you reading. The short answer is that if you are male and under 65 (which you are) and have never had a heart attack, there is no evidence that taking a statin will increase your longevity. If you haven’t tried a low-carb diet to deal with your cholesterol, that would be the first step I would recommend.