Unknown to the public and most doctors, cholesterol lowering drugs can be life threatening.(1) Due to the billions of dollars procured form their sales, few people are discussing the darker side of cholesterol lowering drugs known as statins. In a letter to the Archives of Internal Medicine, Uffe Ravnskov MD, PhD and colleagues show that in two of the three clinical trials that included healthy people, the chance of surviving was better without the use of cholesterol lowering drugs.(2) Numerous medical journals have shown that cholesterol-lowering drugs significantly increase ones risk of suffering from CoQ10 deficiency (paradoxically leads to heart disease), rhabdomyolysis (kidney failure), erectile dysfunction, loss of memory (transient global amnesia) and loss of mental focus. Furthermore, it appears that cholesterol-lowering drug use also increases ones risk of getting cancer. As early as 1996 it was shown in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) that all cholesterol-lowering drugs caused cancer in rodents at the equivalent doses used by man.(3)

Of course, extrapolation of this evidence of cancer from rodent to human is very uncertain. Such an extrapolation would only hold true if human studies also showed an increase in cancer rates. And in fact that is what scientists are showing. Evidence from the cholesterol-lowering trial known as CARE (Cholesterol And Recurrent Events) showed that Pravachol (cholesterol-lowering drug made by Bristol-Myer Squib) prevented the chances of suffering from a heart attack by 1.1%. This miniscule benefit was accompanied with an increase in breast cancer among women. Among the group taking Pravachol, 13 cases of breast cancer were reported. Conversely, there was only one case of breast cancer among non-users of Pravachol.

That cholesterol lowering drugs can potentially cause cancer will never be main stream. Drug company funded studies for cholesterol-lowering drugs are very short in nature. Considering that it takes a significant amount of time for cancer to develop this side effect will continue to fly below the radar.

The list of negative side effects from cholesterol-lowering drugs continues. Researchers from the University of Denmark report that about 15% of cholesterol lowering drug users over the age of 50 will suffer from nerve damage as direct result of using statin drugs. USA Today reported, "Statins have killed and injured more people than the government has acknowledged".

About the Author: Shane holds a Master's degree in organic chemistry and has first hand industry experience with drug research, design and synthesis.  He knows American's want and deserve natural medicine not
prescriptions.  Visit www.health-fx.net and for his book
www.healthmyths.net