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Should Statin Drugs Ever be Used?

Should Statin Drugs Ever be Used?
By Team Perlmutter
Category: Science

I recently had the opportunity to participate in a round table discussion focused on the topic of statin medications used to lower cholesterol. As many of you are now aware, a new set of “guidelines” developed by the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology was recently issued instructing healthcare practitioners as to when to prescribe this group of drugs.

Incredibly, under these guidelines almost half of the American population between the ages of 40 to 75 and virtually all men over age 60 would qualify for the use of this potentially dangerous class of medications.

Mainstream medicine seems focused on the provision of more and more medications for one and all. But while there are some incredibly wonderful drugs available for us to use, it makes sense to take a step back and reconsider the idea of risk versus benefit with this new recommendation as we should with the use of any drug.

Keep in mind that the use of statins is anything but a free ride. Complications that are well documented include increased risk of diabetes, memory loss, liver damage and serious muscle damage.

So please read this interesting discussion where I’m joined by Dr. Stephen Sinatra, a board-certified cardiologist, and Dr. Beatrice Golomb, associate professor of medicine at the University of California, San Diego.

Related Topics

Liver Damage  Cholesterol  Statins  Diabetes  

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