I saw an ad for Crestor on the lowcarber.org website. I know lowcarber.org is not responsible for what's in those ads, but I followed the ad and thought that what the Crestor people were saying might be of interest. From the Crestor site:This is all true, though misleading. Dietary cholesterol, I think we have come to understand, is not relevant to blood cholesterol. And blood cholesterol is only harmful in certain contexts.The cause of the deposits is not necessarily the production of "too much cholesterol," but, I think, has more to do with much more complex issues of blood chemistry. And since blood cholesterol is not caused by dietary cholesterol, but rather is made by the liver, the statement about "too much ... absorbed from the foods we eat" is simply false.They are leading the gullible reader down the rosy path. Indeed, cholesterol levels are related to genetic inheritance. But, even though it is "called" familial hypercholesterolemia, what this really might mean is that "normal" cholesterol -- by which I would mean non-pathogenic levels of cholesterol -- may be higher for some than for others. Much higher. But by giving this inherited condition the name of a disease, the reader is set up to consider treating the disease. And the statement about "the more fats they eat" is probably quite simply false. Certainly some fats, and "especially from meat and dairy products," are not the cause of high cholesterol.It's very important for the bottom line of the makers of Crestor, indeed. If you don't know the truth about cholesterol, and you get that test, many healthy Americans will be advised to use cholesterol-lowering drugs. All of which can make you sick. They "don't have any symptoms," indeed. It's true that atherosclerosis in the early stages is asymptomatic; but cholesterol tests don't measure the degree of atherosclerosis, they measure ... cholesterol. Which is not a disease, but only speculatively a marker of a possible disease process. If you want to find out if you have early atherosclerosis, blood cholesterol simply won't tell you. Fractionated LDL might actually measure risk, but most cholesterol tests don't go into that detail. And all of this is not really very well understood, it seems. To actually know what is going on with the arteries, imaging the arteries with a CAT scan or some other direct means may be necessary. Cardiac CRP *may* give some indication. Instead of taking Crestor, perhaps taking low-dose aspirin would reduce actual risk more. But this won't fatten the profits of any drug company, so who is going to fund the research?They don't tell you that some LDL cholesterol is "good." They don't tell you to get your LDL analyzed. They don't encourage you to get your triglycerides analzed. Is this because, if they did, you might not think you need to take Crestor?
At last, a breath of honesty. Now, what Crestor does is to lower cholesterol (not a lot, I think, but a little). Why would we want to lower cholesterol? To avoid "heart attacks, heart disease, or strokes." But the fact is that it has not been shown that lowering cholesterol will prevent these problems. Suppose someone did a study that showed that, in the U.S., black hair is associated with heart disease. (It might be.) And we find that we can change the color of hair with a drug. Would this lower the incidence of heart disease? Maybe, it depends. You'd have to study it. Now, why are we spending perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars a year to lower cholesterol with drugs, if the ultimate effect has never been studied? I can tell you why. Money and politics. Not medical science.

On another page on the Crestor site:They certainly aren't going to tell you to go on a low-carb diet, for if you do, you might not need Crestor at all. (To be fair, they are giving the standard, ineffective advice. Low-fat diets are not as effective as low-carb diets for losing weight; indeed, many people gain weight trying to follow low-fat diets. And, once again, dietary cholesterol is not relevant to blood cholesterol; their dietary advice goes on to suggest avoiding butter, etc. In this case, that the advice is ineffective helps increase their sales. Now, what happens when some AstraZeneca employee sends a memo to management about the evidence demolishing the sat-fat/cholesterol/heart disease myth. Does it get shredded?)

Suggestion: don't trust drug companies for advice about nutrition. They have a conflict of interest. And don't trust advice from doctors who get their information from drug companies; they may mean well, but many doctors are overwhelmed with information and have a shortage of time. Unfortunately, this may be most of them.There is no substitute, really, for being personally informed about nutritional realities. Caveat emptor.

Good analysis Abd, and I might echo on your closing thoughts, with all the corruption, both blatant and «involuntary», going on in medicine and the «disease management system» (to quote Cerebezin), the responsibility of our individual health lies squarely on our own shoulders.

We cannot rely much on modern medicine to keep us healthy.

To patch us in case of an accident, or in the case of a heart attack, absolutely. But to prevent the heart attack in the first place? Not a chance!

Nice breakdown of their (mis)information, Abd.

Not to mention that Crestor was named as one of the five other drugs besides Vioxx that should be pulled off the market for endangering public safety - by David Graham, associate director for science and medicine at the FDA. Bextra has already been pulled.

The cholesterol system is regulated, in part, by an enzyme called HMG CoA reductase. This enzyme stimulates the production of cholesterol at the cellular level and in the liver, where most of our cholesterol is made. It shuts down receptor activity at the cellular level so that the cell no longer takes in cholesterol from the bloodstream and, instead makes its own cholesterol. The cholesterol in the bloodstream, therefore, has nowhere to go, so it gets deposited in your arteries, causing CHD. Insulin stimulates the cells to produce HMG CoA reductase which gets the whole ball of wax rolling, as it were.

Crestor, like all statins, works by suppressing HMG CoA reductase in the liver, as well as other liver enzymes such as CoQ 10. By suppessing this essential liver enzyme, Crestor shuts down cholesterol production in the liver so less cholesterol enters your bloodstream, and you show lower cholesterol in your blood tests. But your health is no better for that.

What the Crestor propoganda does not tell you is that you can lower the level of HMG CoA reductase at the cellular level and stimulate the cells' receptor activity to remove cholesterol from the bloodstream by lowering your insulin levels through controlling carbohydrates in your diet.

Statins are dangerous drugs that suppress liver function. No one needs them.

this is a great thread and a great example. I think more threads like these should be started on almost every drug - not to be 'anti-medicine' (medicine can and does save lives), but to be a healthy sceptic. after all, most of us wouldn't know all this info about statins and thier dangers if not for this board. it's easy to say 'people should be informed about thier medications', but that's hard to do without the right type of information available freely. that's what makes this board so amazing. hurrah everyone who contributed to this thread!