I understand that most Gps try to convince us that our cholesteral levels should be below 5. Does anyone/ has anyone come across facts/ studies that give a clearer idea what range is healthy/safe??
GP's are following NICE guidlines, which are highly suspect.
I've unfortunately lost the link but there's a fair bit of evidence that the rate at which "bad" cholesterol is regarded as too high was changed back in the 70's by a US committee which had a majority of drug companies on it.
I've also heard anecdotally that the level has changed several times since then and the level at which doctors insist we take statins has of course changed with it. If we take into account the number of people whose cholesterol is not high by any standards but are still prescribed statins as a matter of course, that's a lot of older people taking them, suffering the side effects.
There's also some research which suggests that low cholesterol is a factor in dementia because our brains do need it, but again I can't give a link on this site.
Keep researching! I ignore the websites with lots of capital letters and exclamation marks, they're nearly always selling something.
They start prescribing statins to patients with mild dementia as often they have had unoticed TIA's that showed when they had a brain scan.
That's scary: if it were me I'd rather just go out with a stroke than have dementia anyway, but I guess I won't have that choice because I'll have dementia so I won't even be asked
Hi Chris
Not sure about the level of "bad" cholesterol, but have read on a WHO report, dated 2000 or thereabouts, that all cause mortality is greatest when total chol is 4.7 and lower. The report goes on to say that optimum level of TCl is around 5.7 to 6.2.
Interesting is that there is no such thing as bad cholesterol. There is only one type of chol and without it we would not survive.
i often ask my my local GP how did we humans survive for millenia without statins. Have never yet received an intelligent answer.
My Tcl is close to 9 and over a year ago was told by a Gp that he was astounded, given my level of Chol, that I've not had a heart attach. But did he evaluate me further, ecg etc, did he hell. Just prescribed statins which i do not take. I Just take fish oil and regular excersize. I'm 71
Regards
Not if you or a family member recognise the symptoms early and get a diagnosis. GP's are now being encouraged with cash and early treatment slows it down.
My understanding is that there are two types of cholesterol: whether or not we label one of them as bad is another issue.
I find your third paragraph quite irrelevant: the human race has survived with all sorts of medical problems and in the past life expectancy was very much lower than it is now. Whether that's because cholesterol wasn't tested who knows? It may well be that the health problems caused by high cholesterol don't show up until after the age at which our ancestors died.
Not aguing for statins, far from it, I stopped taking them a while ago, but your argument isn't convincing: it's a bit like the people how say more people die of cancer now than in the past or more people get dementia: yeah, because we live longer!
Certainly we need some level of cholesterol to survive, the type and healthy level is the issue and of course, the routine prescribing of it for people who don't have what's regarded as high cholesterol.
I read a book recently 'The Cholesterol Con' by a Dr Kendrick. It certainly makes you question everything what we have been led to believe re cholesterol, diets and heart attacks.
Couldn't agree more, Its an excellent read.
Dr K also has a blog which you might find useful
Hi J
What health problems are caused by high cholesterol?
It's not one of those publications with lots of capital letters and exclamation marks and which ends up trying to sell you an alternative to statins, is it?
I've seen a couple of those and they don't convince me of anything other than that the writer is after profit, not passing on fully researched information.
Just checking before I try & locate the book, I've been conned before by this sort of thing
Heart attacks and strokes according to most mainstream research - I'd suggest you google this, it's quite complicated and there are different opinions.
Some research now suggests there's no connection between high cholesterol and cardio-vascular problems.
Hi Jude
So does it or doesn't it. You appear to be hedging your bets,so to speak, however, I have been doing my own research for 15 yrs, and have found no conclusive proof that cholesterol is a risk to my health.
Quite the opposite in fact.
The year 2000 WHO report makes a good starting point.
Followed up by reading the works of Drs Atkins and Kendrick.
Suggest you DYOR though because I am not an expert.
I don't know and neither does anyone else! That's not hedging my bets, that's being honest. I won't take statins OR non statin cholesterol lowering medication because I experienced the same negative effects, but I've continued eating lots of fruit & vegies, exercising daily and I've never eaten a high fat diet anyway. I do have 3 tsp most days in my porridge of Psyllium Husk and my cholesterol has come down slightly, to about what would've been regarded as a safe level decades back.
WARNING: anyone using Psyllium Husk be careful not to ever eat it DRY as it expands on contact with moisture and if it does so in your throat or gullet you may choke - fatally ........
I haven't read Kendrick but the Atkins Diet has been totally discredited in my view.
I was responding to your question but you seem to have already made up your mind.
Sadly people affected by statins lose faith in the medical profession and then believe others out to prey and profit from them .
NO it just wants people to know the facts and actually names PROPER studies/ research.
Hi Jude
As you deduce, yes i have made up my mind and i find it interesting that individuals who claim not to have researched this subject matter can dis just about every opinion presented here and, i might add, not only make contradictory statements but use a style of puctuation that they themselves frown upon. ;-)
Regards
Dr Atkins:
Dr Robert Atkins - whose diet is followed by three million Britons - had a serious heart disease and was a clinically obese 18-and-a-half stone when he died, a report revealed yesterday.
The 72-year-old died after hitting his head when he slipped on an icy New York street. The Wall Street Journal revealed that a confidential report on his death by the New York Medical Examiner had been leaked to them by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, which opposes the Atkins diet.
It showed, said the Journal, that before his death the 6ft tall diet guru had suffered a heart attack, congestive heart failure and hypertension.
Not necessarily, but I have lost faith in the statin manufacturers