Ryan Ayala@RyanJAyala
THE HAUNTING TRUTH ABOUT STATINS
A story of
lies, corruption, and deception...
**Must Read**
The guidelines continue to conclude that more and more people should be taking statins.
Making them the most frequently prescribed class of drugs in the United States.
But are they as effective in treating heart disease as they say?
And if not why are they continued to be pushed?
The answer is a nuanced truth which has been hidden in a field of haze.
The statin story begins in 1978 but our story begins in 2003 with the landmark ASCOT study.
Which led to major guideline changes in 2004,
significantly increasing the number of individuals statins were recommended for.
Yet the pivotal ASCOT study showed:
Statins failed to reduce the risk of death
and women treated with a statin developed 10% more heart attacks than the women treated with placebo.
So why did the panel of experts come to their conclusion?
We can only speculate of course...
But it may have something to do with the fact that
8 of the 9 panel members who wrote the guidelines had financial ties to Statin manufactures...
In 2013, the guidelines made another major change
Increasing the number of healthy Americans who statin therapy was recommended for by more than 70 percent.
As you may have assumed...
8 of the 15 members on that panel had financial ties to drug companies at the time.
One of the two vice-chairs, Dr. Jennifer Robinson, openly received more than $3 million from the drug industry.
Leaving us with two big questions:
How is the panel allowed to get away with this?
And do statins work?
Well, the panel justified their stance through meta analyses.
Dr. Robinson herself (the one who made millions from drug companies) said:
“We relied extensively on the Cholesterol Treatment Trialists [CTT] meta-analyses in making our treatment recommendations.”
So let’s take a closer look at those CTT meta-analyses.
As stated in the CTT’s protocol, the reason for the meta-analyses was that no single trial would be large enough to have the “statistical power”.
So pooling data from statin trials could provide clear evidence.
However, the CTT has an agreement that it will not release the data to anyone else.
Keeping the results from their clinical trials confidential.
The CTT has published multiple statin meta-analyses, each one increasing the population that would benefit from taking a statin.
Yet, the underlying data from the clinical trials and meta-analyses was NOT available to the experts who wrote the 2013 guidelines.
A fact the majority of doctors are not aware of.
Leaving us with a hazy uncertainty with the effectiveness of the United States most prescribed drug…
And we didn't even get to touch on the side effects…
But even the World Health Organization has concluded:
80 percent of premature heart disease can be prevented by adopting just three habits:
Eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly, and avoiding tobacco.
