For the last 50 years, doctors and pharmaceutical companies have been telling us that specific medications will help prevent disease and help you and me live longer.  This is often touted on the national and local new and usually presented as fact.  Many health care providers buy into the scientific propaganda without ever questioning the science and suddenly insist that you and I follow the new recommendations.

In the recent past, some very interesting and very worrisome information has been released about a very popular class of drugs called statins.  Many of you may be taking them in an attempt to lower your cholesterol, thwart heart attacks and prevent strokes (1, 2).  The cardiologists in my neighborhood hand them out like skittles on Halloween. 

In the last 8-10 years, data reveals that 20% of adults under age 60 and 50% of adults over 74 years old are taking them (3).  Within the last year, the effectiveness of this class of drugs in reducing cardiovascular events and death have been directly questioned, while other major side effects of these medications have been discovered (4).  The concern, today, is that statin medications are now associated with higher levels of diabetes, dementia, and now death associated with COVID-19 infections.

STATINs and Dementia

The effect of stain medications on dementia has been inconclusive over the last five years until four months ago.  In May, the Journal of Nuclear Medicine published a study in 303 patients (5) with low to moderate cholesterol levels and early mild cognitive impairment taking the statin drugs (ie. – atorvastatin, simvastatin, fluvastain and lovastatin).  Within eight years of treatment, these patients had more than doubled the occurrence of dementia compared with those not using statin medication.   They also noted significant loss of metabolic function of a section of the brain associated with Alzheimer’s Dementia in those taking the statin drugs.

STATINs and Brain Atrophy

Another group looking at these drugs demonstrated that lowering the total cholesterol and LDL-C levels may be associated with cerebral atrophy and thus dementia, and high low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) is actually beneficial for neuron (brain cell) function (6).

STATINs and Diabetes

In 2019, a study revealed that using statin drugs actually increased the risk of diabetes onset.  Use of statin drugs doubled the risk of diabetes.  And, taking the statins for longer than two years tripled the risk for diabetes onset (7).

STATINs and COVID-19 Infections

To add fuel to the fire, a study published this year revealed that those on statin drugs had a greater risk of death from a COVID-19 infection (8).  2449 patients with type II diabetes mellitus admitted to the hospital with COVID-19 infections had significantly higher rates of death at the 7-day and 28-day marks if they were taking statin medications (8).  The risk of death was up to 6% higher if you are using a statin drug and get COVID-19.

As I have discussed at great length in my book and in previous blog posts, cholesterol and atherosclerosis risk can be controlled much more effectively with a ketogenic or carnivorous diet.  Maybe all we read in the literature, even if it comes in a meta-analysis or Cochrane Review shouldn’t be fully trusted.  I encourage you to trust, but verify.  Do your own reading and research about any treatment offered to you.

References:

1. Taylor F, Huffman MD, Macedo AF, et al. Statins for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2013;2013(1):CD004816. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD004816.pub5

2. Cholesterol Treatment Trialists’ (CTT) Collaborators; Mihaylova B, Emberson J, Blackwell L, et al. The effects of lowering LDL cholesterol with statin therapy in people at low risk of vascular disease: meta-analysis of individual data from 27 randomised trials. Lancet. 2012;380(9841):581–590. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(12)60367-5

3. Gu Q, Paulose-Ram R, Burt VL, Kit BK. Prescription cholesterol-lowering medication use in adults aged 40 and over: United States, 2003–2012. NCHS Data Brief. 2014;(177):1–8.

4. DuBroff R, Malhotra A, de Lorgeril M. Hit or miss: the new cholesterol targets. BMJ Evid Based Med. Published online August 3, 2020. doi:10.1136/bmjebm-2020-111413

5. Padmanabham P, Liu S, Silverman D. Lipophilic statins in subjects with early mild cognitive impairment: associations with conversion to dementia and decline in posterior cingulate brain metabolism in a long-term prospective longitudinal multi-center study. J Nuclear Med. 2021;62(suppl 1):102.

6. Zhou F, Deng W, Ding D, et al. High low-density lipoprotein cholesterol inversely relates to dementia in community-dwelling older adults: the Shanghai aging study. Front Neurol. 2018;9:952. doi:10.3389/fneur.2018.00952

7. Zigmont VA, Shoben AB, Lu B, et al. Statin users have an elevated risk of dysglycemia and new-onset-diabetes. Diabetes Metab Res Rev. 2019;35(8):e3189. doi:10.1002/dmrr.3189

8. Cariou B, Goronflot T, Rimbert A, et al; CORONADO investigators. Routine use of statins and increased COVID-19 related mortality in inpatients with type 2 diabetes: results from the CORONADO study. Diabetes Metab. 2021;47(2):101202. doi:10.1016/j.diabet.2020.10.001