Statins For Children?
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
The Insanity Continues—Statins for Children
Written by Rodger Murphree, D.C.
TAC, Integrative Healthcare , Volume 30, Issue 11
Published:
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
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