As unlikely as it may seem, we could easily make a horror film out of the facts surrounding the cholesterol lowering drugs like Lipitor (Atorvastatin), Zocor (Simvastatin), Crestor (Rosuvastatin), Mevacor (Lovastatin), Vytorin, Advicor, or Caduet. The setting would be a thriving valley seemingly protected by massive mountains. The valley’s inhabitance has been told the valley was their protector and if they ever left the valley they would certainly die! Those telling the people this lie are some of the most respected in the community. So, the population blindly trusts and believes these leaders. They have no reason not to believe. On the contrary, the information they have been shown seemingly supports this claim. The lie is so pervasive that the population, as a whole, makes no effort to verify what they are being told. There is no way EVERYONE in the valley could have come to believe something that was not true. So, anyone questioning this unquestionable truth is considered to be a conspiracy creating lunatic or an intellectual midget.

But something sinister is awash in the valley. The people are actually being convinced, in mass, that in order to stay in the valley they must take a “medicine”. This medicine will, they are told, prevent them from getting a disease which would force them to be taken out of the valley. The people’s intense fear of having to endure this scenario motivates them to listen. The problem is the medicine does NOTHING to prevent the disease they fear may take them out of the valley. In fact, the medicine actually causes more harm than good for most. The valley people suck down the medicine, by the millions, without knowing the truth.

The leaders, themselves, have come to believe this lie as completely as the rest of the population. In fact, these leaders actually become angered when the unquestionably clear benefit of the medicine is indeed questioned. The high intellect of these leaders has been satisfied and to them the question of this medicine’s benefit has been answered. Any naysayers are considered to be charlatans who could not possibly present any evidence of substance that could impact the position of these leaders. These naysayers are seen as dangerous by the leaders and are either summarily dismissed or attacked for trying to bring the truth to light. After all, these leaders are indeed the intellects of the valley. No group of intellects could have embraced anything so completely and could actually be wrong. It just simply does not make sense. But, the unthinkable and unbelievable has indeed occurred within the valley.

Now, imagine yourself as the hero or heroine of this story. You come across information suggesting that the people are being lied to and actually being harmed by this medicine. At first, you do not believe this information. You are part of the collective and the thought that runs through your mind is a bit over-whelming. There can be no way that ALL of the valley leaders and people could have been deceived by a lie! But, instead of dismissing the information as dribble you take the time to investigate. The more you discover, however, the more that sick feeling sits deep within your gut. You realize the truth is inescapable for the honestly convicted heart. Unfortunately, the comfort that was assured by your previous ignorance has been shattered. You recheck your research to make sure you did not make a mistake. You had to have made a mistake. That is the only explanation that could explain your findings. But, you did not. You come to the cold and sobering conclusion that this lie has been perpetuated solely in order to make billions of dollars.

So, you test the waters by asking some of the leaders to prove you wrong by giving you just one study to support their position. How easy is that? One study to prove you wrong and you can go on living in peace within the valley. In a way, you hope they produce a study so you can rid yourself of this burden. Deep down, however, you know you have been careful in your analysis and you doubt the leaders will be able to prove you wrong. And, you are right. The leaders you ask either give you unrelated studies or they fall back on the same “no way everyone could be wrong” logic. They cannot give you any evidence supporting their view. You now know you have come into the light of the unbelievable. What do you do? You do not want to become an outcast. You most certainly do not want to face the certain ridicule. How do you get people to understand the truth? It would be so much easier to not rock the boat. But, alas, this is not in your nature. You know you are about to poke a mother Grizzly!

So, you poke hoping the intellectual leaders will see the facts and will be convicted by moral honesty to acknowledge the unthinkable. Maybe they will acknowledge that they had indeed been duped and ultimately had been manipulated by the industry they vigorously claim has little influence over the positions they hold. You quickly find out that they completely dismiss the facts without even looking at them. Deep down you know the reason for their refusal has to do with ego preservation and that they know if they embrace the facts of the information you present, their paradigms will have to shift drastically. The individual leaders have no desire to admit their wrong because it will force them to fundamentally change the way they practice. Thus, they willfully fall back to the safety of the collective. You are marginalized and dismissed. This, though, does not change the fact that you know you are right. These leaders are hurting the valley people, but have been manipulated to believe the opposite. You are virtually powerless. Even your family and best friends will not believe. You come to the depressing realization that you are very much in an Invasion of the Body Snatchers horror film. You know the truth, but you are ultimately powerless to stop the impeding doom. Your only choice is to try and help a few. The majority will not listen and your heart aches for them. 

Back To Reality

If you are one of the millions taking cholesterol lowering drugs, you are a member of the valley people collective. I know political correctness dictates that we shy away from the word “lie” because it is too hurtful a word. But, you and your doctors have indeed been force fed a lie by the pharmaceutical giants. The lie is that cholesterol lowering drugs reduce the risk of you dying from a heart attack or stroke when taken preventatively. The studies are clear…they do not!

Those of you who know me well realize that I am not the type to make claims without backing them up with solid logic and fact. I am not going to relist all of the evidence against statin drug use in this article. I encourage you to read my other articles on the statin drug lie in order to see for yourself the compelling evidence supporting my assertions.

DR. ZIMMER’S CHOLESTEROL ARTICLES

It is so interesting to me that any study supposedly suggesting a positive effect from statin drugs gets tons of press coverage. A recent example was the JUPITER trial for the drug Crestor.  (I will comment on this study in a moment.) What if a recent, peer-reviewed study came out showing that the preventative use of statin drugs DID NOT reduce the risk of death, even in patients with high-risk of heart disease? You would expect this information to be front page news, since every doctor in the U.S. scares their patients into using statin drugs to prevent heart attacks. Couple this new study with existing studies showing the exact same thing and you would expect the intellectual leaders of medicine to immediately question their prescribing of this drug to any patient who has “elevated” cholesterol. Sadly, you would be wrong.

A recent study in the Archives of Internal Medicine (Statin and all-cause mortality in high risk primary prevention: a meta-analysis of 11 randomized controlled trials involving 65,229 participants. 2010 Jun 28; 170(12): 1024-31.) revealed that analysis of the BEST statin drug studies proves they do not lower the risk of death in high-risk patients. I do not want you to gloss over the most important aspect of this study. The investigators looked at patients who had intermediate to high risk of experiencing their first heart attack or stroke. This includes people with high blood pressure, diabetes, smokers, and those over weight. The verdict: NO BENEFIT from statin drugs in reducing the risk of death even in patients with the highest risk of getting a heart attack or stroke!

Now, if cholesterol lowering drugs do not lower the risk of dying even in high risk patients (diabetes, high blood pressure, previous heart attacks), do you really expect that they will lower the risk of death in patients without high risks? You would not. And, they do not.

The revealing and frankly disturbing aspect of this finding is that you did not hear even one word about it in the news. Not one of your doctors received a copy of this study from their cholesterol pharmaceutical representative because this article would potentially hurt their quarterly bonus. You and I both know if this study showed a benefit from the use of statin drugs, it would have been front page news and every doctor in the U.S. would have received a copy. But, the leaders of the valley will either never see this study or they will quickly dismiss it as only “one” study, which proves nothing to them. In their minds, they have seen hundreds of studies supporting the preventative use of statin drugs in their patients. Amazingly, though, they cannot actually produce ONE good study supporting this position. Not even one.

Think about the gauntlet I just threw down. In order for almost ALL doctors to so vigorously support the use of statin drugs for the prevention of heart attack and/or stroke death, there have to be NUMEROUS, high quality studies supporting this result. Otherwise, how could ALL doctors support this practice without many studies? My gauntlet is to prove me wrong by giving me only ONE decent study to support the use of statin drugs for the prevention of heart attack and/or stroke. Only one! It would not seem to be much of a challenge. I have yet to get that study from any doctor. The reason is because it does not exist!

But, what about the JUPITER (Justification for the Use of Statins in Primary Prevention) trial for the statin drug Crestor? It was stopped early because it showed such incredible benefits for the reduction of heart attack and stroke in patients without coronary heart disease and with normal to low cholesterol levels. There is your one example. And, I tell you this is a perfect example of using a critically flawed study to promote the statin benefit lie. Let me explain and you can decide for yourself if you put any stock in the findings of the JUPITER study.

This study is completely unique. It is the only study showing a substantial decrease in the risk of cardiovascular disease from the preventative use of any statin drug. By “preventative” I am referring to the fact that the people in this study did not have pre-existing cardiovascular disease and they had normal to low cholesterol levels. In other words, they were people without any significant risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Not even high cholesterol. Why is it that all other preventative studies (many hundreds of them) failed to show this benefit even if the subjects had high cholesterol? (NOTE: Even other Crestor studies did not show this benefit!) There can only be three choices:

1.    All of the other studies were flawed. (Including past Crestor studies)

2.    The JUPITER study was flawed.

3.    Crestor imparts a benefit not seen in any of the other statin drugs.

There is no doubt that number two is the answer. The statistics found within the JUPITER study show some major, and unexplained, discrepancies. First, the data suggested a significant reduction in stroke and heart attacks, but no effect in reducing the death from these diseases overall. This makes no sense at all. Suppose there are 100 strokes and heart attacks in a study group. Say the expected death rate would be about 30 out of those 100.  The data claimed by the JUPITER study is that Crestor reduced the number of heart attacks, but not the number of deaths. So, instead of 100 strokes and heart attacks the claim is that Crestor brought that number down significantly without saving any lives! Again, this makes no sense. Additionally, in the JUPITER data, the total death rate from those experiencing a cardiovascular event was only between 5-18%, when it would have been expected to have been at least 40% in a regular study population.

Finally, this study was discontinued after fewer than 2 years! Does anyone really believe there was a never before seen, significant reduction of stroke and heart attacks from a statin drug in less than two years of time in healthy people? If this effect was indeed real, the reduction to all people taking the drug would be unbelievably positive in just about every study. How can you explain that all other studies fail to show any clinically significant benefit from Crestor or any other statin drug for the prevention of cardiovascular disease?

What is going on in the JUPITER trial? The study was designed and funded by the pharmaceutical company who makes the drug. The study contains highly questionable statistics, claims of never before seen results, and was completed by an entity who has a significant financial interest in a positive outcome. Do you think this qualifies as a sound and valid study to be quoted by any serious health professional? The JUPITER study does not even come close to satisfying the request to supply one study supporting the preventative use of statin drugs.

The Bottom Line

So, let me summarize the evidence proving that almost no one should be taking statin drugs in America, or anywhere, for that matter. I encourage you to challenge your doctor with this information. You will soon see that they will use the “collective” argument to dismiss these findings. They will tell you that there are MANY studies showing that statin drugs save lives. Ask them for the studies. They may even mindlessly quote the JUPITER study. Politely smile and ask them if they know of any others. They will not be able to give you anything else. The study simply does not exist.

Once you realize your doctor cannot defend their position with science and that they cannot dismiss the scientific findings I have shared with you, make the decision as to whether you will stay among the manipulated or be released from the dangers of these drugs. YOU are in ultimate control of your health. Your doctor is only a tour guide suggesting where you should go. If they become angered with you it is not because of concern over your well-being. It is simply because you are not listening to them, which is, in their minds, a sign that you do not trust them. In reality, it is an unacceptable insult to their ego. You need to come to the realization that doctors can be and are wrong, many times. Do not blindly follow suggestions. Rev up the organ filling the space between your ears! Read my other articles to get a clearer picture of the facts.

If cholesterol lowering drugs were safe and free from side-effects, I really would not have such a sense of urgency in letting you know that you are involved in a real life horror film. They are not safe and they most certainly are not effective at reducing your risk of dying from a heart attack or stroke. If you are one of the millions taking statin drugs, you are like that girl in the movie who is going to investigate a sound she heard in the other room. You are not going to fair too well. I am the guy in the theater screaming for you to get the heck out of the house and run! Unfortunately, that girl almost never listens to me.

I need to make it very clear to you that I am not telling you to stop taking a prescription given to you by your medical doctor. That would be against the law. I am giving you information and encouraging you to make a decision for yourself. YOU can decide to take or not take anything a doctor prescribes. This is especially true if you are convinced that they are misguided in their prescribing of any drug.

What do you do about cholesterol?

If you have cholesterol ratios that seem to be out of line (listen to my FREE CD/Mp3 Cholesterol: Angel or Devil) and you really feel like you should do something about them, why would you rely on the dangerous and side-effect ridden statin drugs when you can lower cholesterol by using natural substances? In fact, these natural substances can lower your cholesterol equally as well as statin drugs without the dangerous side-effects. If lowering your cholesterol is the important end-goal, why not try using something natural instead? If it does not work after 4 months, you can always decide to go back to your prescription.

Here are my suggestions for you. You can order these supplements from www.ZimmerNutrition.com by clicking on the name for each supplement.

Triplichol w/Niacin  (Dr. Zimmer’s Choice)

As the name implies, Triplichol is formulated to decrease high levels of triglycerides and cholesterol. It is one of my favorites because it not only helps to normalize blood lipids, but also provides strong antioxidant protection for your cells. It contains the premier antioxidants Resveratrol, Grape Seed Extract, Green Tea Extract and Quercetin! Additionally, it contains high dose Niacin, OrthoMega Pure Fish Oils, and Plant Sterols. These are supplied in easy to use one or two times a day packets. Again, this is my favorite product to suggest for those who have higher cholesterol and triglyceride levels.

Time Released Niacin  

This is a true "time-release" Niacin supplement. Niacin (Vitamin B3) is one of the most studied and effective natural means to lower total cholesterol, increase "good" cholesterol, and reduce triglycerides. This time release form of Niacin will reduce unwanted side effects of flushing in most people. It is the same Niacin found in Triplichol.

Choleast   (Red yeast rice extract) is an organism grown on rice. After centuries of use in traditional Chinese medicine, it was discovered that red yeast rice can reduce cholesterol and help to maintain a healthful balance of blood lipids. In fact, a recent study revealed that it lowered cholesterol as well as did any statin drug. This product also contains a small amount of CoQ10.