Over the Counter Natural Cures (7 page)

 

EXTEND YOUR LIFE

Whether you're a health saint or not, milk thistle is the right choice for life extension. Doing your best to avoid today's top toxins, while making it a point to supplement with milk thistle, will prove beneficial. It's also a great way to avoid those occasional hangovers.

 

 

 CHAPTER 3 

“Lower your cholesterol and prevent heart disease!” Medical doctors, drug manufacturers, and nutritional supplement companies make billions of dollars by browbeating us to believe this statement. But despite the exuberance with which the claim is made, not a single scientific study justifies the myth that “low cholesterol prevents heart disease.” Yet, millions of people swallow the story, along with their cholesterol-lowering drugs (medically known as statins), in a blind attempt to prevent dreaded heart attacks and stroke.

Cholesterol-lowering drug users are unknowingly putting themselves at risk for ghastly side effects, while diminishing their quality of life. In the following pages, you'll learn the true cause of heart disease, as well as how to prevent it naturally.

You will see that much smarter methods exist for preventing heart disease. In fact, some surprising research shows that these same preventive measures can also enhance libido, while warding off depression and cancer.
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Unlike your doctor's favorite cholesterol-lowering drug, none of these measures to avoid heart attack and stroke will accidentally poison you.

For over a decade, I've been adamant about sharing this message with friends and family. Just ask Mike.…

FRIENDS DON'T LET FRIENDS TAKE
CHOLESTEROL-LOWERING DRUGS

College wrestling was one of my best and worst experiences. On one hand, the arduous workouts and severe dehydration to lose weight nearly drove me to insanity. Having to attend class and learn while under this duress almost drove me to insanity. On the other hand, I was able to learn from some of the nation's best wrestlers. That's where I met Mike.

Mike was the team captain. Not only did he have unparalleled talent, but his work ethic and ability to motivate others was unmatched. He was one of the toughest 134-pound wrestlers in the country. But according to medical doctors, Mike was very, very sick. He was so sick that when doctors ran his blood work, they immediately put him on a daily dose of prescription drugs.

Apparently, a routine blood test in health class showed that he was ill with a condition known as hypercholesterolemia. And that's when doctors insisted on daily statin drug use.

THE ORIGIN OF CHOLESTEROL CRAZINESS

Most people can't even pronounce hypercholesterolemia. When I first read about it in graduate school, it took me a few times to get it right. My introduction to this “new disease” came from the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP).

Founded in 1985, the NCEP is comprised of a small group of nerds disguised as medical doctors. For more than twenty years, this group has been hell-bent on convincing the other 300 million of us that cholesterol is nothing more than a poison. To add to the craziness, they're using
this myth to get every man, woman, and child hooked on cholesterol-lowering drugs. But they have neglected to look at the science that proves otherwise. They have a valid excuse; most of them are paid by pharmaceutical companies to ignore science while promoting drugs. Among those on the NCEP board, 88 percent are paid directly by the companies that sell statins.
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Thanks to the NCEP, the standards for “normal” cholesterol levels have steadily dropped, making every American sick with hypercholesterolemia. The cholesterol craziness is nothing more than a cheap ploy to turn healthy people into patients. Mike was among the first of my closest friends who fell victim to this craziness.

When we met again at a friend's wedding, I had not seen Mike for at least six years. I was looking forward to catching up and having a good time. Once the vows were exchanged, the drinking began. Everybody loosened up. Stories were exchanged, and it was just like old times. And “old times” for us always involved some good-natured ribbing. I asked Mike, “Hey bro! Been taking care of your health?”

At only thirty years old, Mike was visibly deflated and pale. His lean, muscular stature had deteriorated to a frumpy, unassuming physique. I wanted to know what happened.

Mike insisted that his health was great. Like many people are able to do, he regurgitated his “total cholesterol” numbers from memory. Everyone within earshot perked up as he recited his so-called great cholesterol level of 180. Others wanted to compare.

My best friend, Pat, moved closer. He was waiting for me to get on my cholesterol soapbox. He knew that some would be entertained and others offended. And he didn't want to miss my rhetorical attack.

“What the hell does your cholesterol level have to do with your health, Mike?” I asked.

Blank stare. Mike insisted that since the level was less than 200, he was healthy. After all, that's what his doctors had told him almost ten years earlier in college.

COMMON CHOLESTEROL-LOWERING DRUG SIDE EFFECTS

When pronounced hypercholesterolemic, Mike instantly began eating his daily dose of statins, no questions asked. He had followed this aggressive drug protocol for at least ten years, and it explained his new ill look.

“Stop being a moron,” I told him. “As a collegiate athlete who was at the top of his game and in the best physical shape of his life, how could you have been sick?”

“No, I felt fine. It was a routine blood test in health class. I figured they must know what they were talking about, and I didn't want to suffer from a heart attack.… But I felt great.”

“Have you been reading anything other than
People
magazine? Some of the biggest headlines in major media have been showcasing the inherent risk of statins. They are among the deadliest drugs on the market. And to be honest, you look like you're suffering from side effects. In fact, you defeated me easily in college, but I bet I could drop you now without putting my beer down.”

I had his attention. “You are visibly suffering from a host of side effects like muscle loss, probably due to a severe drop in testosterone. This directly threatens your manhood.”

“Huh?”

“Statins lower testosterone and, at the same time, suffocate libido.” Mike's eyes got big. His wife gave an embarrassing nod of affirmation.

ED EFFECTS

Writing for the medical journal
Family Practice,
researchers showed that numerous case reports, review articles, and information from cholesterol-lowering drug users and clinical trials confirm that all classes of cholesterol-lowering drugs prevent patients from performing in the bedroom—or anywhere else, for that matter.
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The technical term for this outcome is
drug-induced erectile dysfunction
. Since cholesterol is a precursor to testosterone, cholesterol-lowering drugs curb its production greatly. As if it couldn't get any worse for Mike, these drugs can have plenty of other adverse effects.

HEART FAILURE

Cholesterol-lowering drugs decrease CoQ10 levels within the heart. This essential nutrient serves as an energy-producing molecule and is crucial to proper cardiovascular function. Without it, the heart fails. Congestive heart failure is the outcome. This was highlighted when Merck & Company, maker of the first cholesterol-lowering drug, filed for a patent for profit-pulling Mevacor (lovastatin). But this danger never made mainstream news.

MENTAL EFFECTS

Statins dumb you down. If Mike thought forgetting his wife's birthday was bad, what about forgetting the names of his children at sixty-five years old? Cholesterol works to ensure the integrity of the “myelin sheath.” This coating within the brain is responsible for encouraging the passage of electrical messages. It makes us smart, and without it, we are bumbling idiots. It's needed for memory and focus. As the cholesterol-lowering drugs deplete cholesterol, the myelin sheath breaks down and memory deteriorates. If not memory loss, cancer can creep up.

CANCER DANGER

Statins mimic a growth factor responsible for cancer proliferation. The growth factor is known as VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor). VEGF is “cancer fertilizer.” Thus, cholesterol-lowering drug users are creating an environment within their body conducive to cancer growth. The statin drug Vytorin (ezetimibe and simvastatin) recently made the news for its cancer-causing effects.

According to a statement released by the FDA, research showed that the “larger percentage of patients treated with Vytorin were diagnosed with and died from all types of cancer combined, when compared to treatment with a placebo.”
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The same cancer trend can be seen among other statins. But the drug industry works hard to keep this concealed, usually by keeping clinical trials relatively brief.

Drug company–funded studies on cholesterol-lowering drugs typically last no more than five years, although cancer takes much longer to develop. Even heavy smoking will not cause lung cancer within five years, yet it is a well-known fact that smoking leads to lung cancer. As long as the cholesterol-lowering drug trials last only five years, the cancer side effect will continue to fly below the radar. That's exactly how cancer-causing Vytorin made it past FDA approval.

Prior to its public cancer crisis, Vytorin was approved with flying colors. Yet, as highlighted by the
New York Times
, “None of the patients took the medicine [Vytorin] for more than twelve weeks, and the trials offered no evidence that it had reduced heart attacks or cardiovascular disease, the goal of any cholesterol drug.”
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As a warning alarm to stockholders, the
Wall Street Journal
highlighted a relationship between cholesterol-lowering drugs and Lou Gehrig's disease, known technically as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The FDA and the World Health Organization (WHO) discovered the link
when monitoring “adverse event reports.” Among those who reported “drug-induced ALS,” almost a third were taking statins! The national average of ALS is a mere 0.0005 percent.
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I wanted to make it very clear to Mike that nobody cares about side effects—they're bad for business and easy to hide in drug-funded studies. There are more pressing matters like who Brittany Spears is dating and how many kids Angelina Jolie is going to adopt.

 

HOW BIG PHARMA HIDES SIDE EFFECTS

Visibly angry, Mike retorted that his doctors would have warned him about these side effects and that the FDA wouldn't approve dangerous drugs.

“Wishful thinking,” I said. “The FDA has a very low bar for approval. Science has been abandoned for profit. As a drug chemist, I watched ineffective and life-threatening drugs receive approval despite the known risks. Vioxx (rofecoxib) for pain. Tamoxifen for cancer. Paxil (paroxetine) for depression. The list goes on. All had been proven dangerous and ineffective prior to approval. It's no wonder that prescription drugs kill hundreds of thousands every year.”
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