You’ve likely heard about the importance of cholesterol and how you should get your cholesterol levels checked every year as part of your annual check-up. Blood cholesterol has been used as an indicator of health risk now for a number of decades. Ever since the link between LDL cholesterol and coronary artery disease was made, the role of cholesterol in the diet has also been highly publicized.
Remember the egg controversy? The prevailing wisdom was that you shouldn’t eat eggs because they contain cholesterol. The thought was that you should also avoid all foods high in cholesterol or saturated fat, which raises cholesterol levels.
In the meantime, scientists working for major drug companies really understood the secret to all of this. They found that most of the cholesterol measured in the blood was actually made in the liver and not directly associated to food intake.
They found an enzyme inside the liver that was necessary in the process of making LDL cholesterol and developed a drug to block this enzyme. They called this drug a statin drug, of which there are now several being used by millions of Americans to lower cholesterol.
But hold on now…is this really necessary?
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DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
2 comments:
Yes, and contrary to the ads that state side effects are rare, more than half the people I know taking these medications, including myself, suffered from such severe muscle cramps that we had to stop taking the medicine. Yet, my doctor is still overly concerned about my high cholesterol but I cannot take the medicine. I have finally convinced him to stop having my blood tested for lipids every six months. Niacin doesn't work either and the side effects are horrible.
I always wondered about the wisdom of stopping a natural function within your liver that God designed. Of course man knows better than the designer.
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