Low Testosterone and Heart Disease Linked—But What’s Really Causing Them?

Testosterone is an androgenic sex hormone produced by a man’s testicles, and to a lesser degree, in smaller amounts, by the ovaries in women. While testosterone is stereotypically associated with virility, it also plays a role in maintaining muscle mass, bone density, red blood cells, and a general sense of well-being. 

Beginning around age 30, a man’s testosterone levels begin to decline, and continue to do so as time goes on—unless you proactively address your lifestyle.

Chemical exposures, including prescription drugs like statins, can also have an adverse effect on your testosterone production. Symptoms of declining testosterone levels include:

• Decreased sex drive
• Erectile dysfunction and/or problems urinating
• Depression
• Difficulties with concentration and memory
• Weight gain and/or breast enlargement

According to a recent analysis,1 low testosterone may also increase a man’s risk for cardiovascular disease. As reported in the featured article:

“To arrive at their findings, the research team examined previous studies that analyzed cardiovascular disease and testosterone levels between 1970 and 2013. The review of the studies revealed modest evidence that low testosterone levels are linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

However, the researchers note there was little evidence of a link between low testosterone and artherosclerosis - the hardening and narrowing of the arteries that can lead to heart attacks and strokes, and there was no evidence of a specific link between heart attacks and testosterone levels.”

The Importance of Testosterone for General Health

While the exact mechanism linking low testosterone to heart disease could not be ascertained, the researchers suggest the effect might be related to thrombosis or arrhythmia. Thrombosis is when a blood clot develops, and arrhythmia is basically a condition in which your heart beats erratically. Previous research has linked low testosterone with both of these conditions, plus a number of others, including:

• Increased blood pressure
• Dyslipidemia
• Endothelial dysfunction
• Impaired left ventricular function

Interestingly enough however, they also found that testosterone replacement therapy did NOT have any positive effect on cardiovascular health. This could potentially indicate that low testosterone does not in and of itself promote heart disease, but rather that low T and heart disease are both caused by something else. As stated by lead researcher, Dr. Johannes Ruige:

"Based on current findings, we cannot rule out that low testosterone and heart disease both result from poor overall health.”

Indeed, I know first-hand that low testosterone is not an automatic outcome of aging, provided you incorporate certain lifestyle strategies that can naturally boost your testosterone levels, which I’ll review below. These strategies are part and parcel of an overall healthy lifestyle, so they also automatically reduce your risk of most chronic disease, including heart disease.

It actually makes logical sense that failure to incorporate these foundational health-promoting strategies could be the root cause of low testosterone, heart disease, and all the heart-related adverse effects listed above.

The Role of Estrogen in the Aging Male

Both men and women make estrogen out of testosterone. As a result, some men can actually end up with close to twice the amount of estrogen found in postmenopausal women. Still, the levels of both testosterone and estrogen both tend to decline with age, and as they do, your body changes. So far, researchers have almost exclusively focused on estrogen’s effect on women, and testosterone’s impact on men. But that may soon change.

A recent article in the New York Times highlighted research demonstrating the intricate play of women’s sex hormones in aging men’s health—a factor that has so far been largely ignored:

“Estrogen, the female sex hormone, turns out to play a much bigger role in men’s bodies than previously thought, and falling levels contribute to their expanding waistlines just as they do in women’s. The discovery of the role of estrogen in men is 'a major advance,' said Dr. Peter J. Snyder, a professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, who is leading a big new research project on hormone therapy for men 65 and over. Until recently, testosterone deficiency was considered nearly the sole reason that men undergo the familiar physical complaints of midlife. “

The study in question, published in the New England Journal of Medicine5 (NEJM), found that there were significant individual variations in the amount of testosterone required for any particular man to maintain lean body mass, strength, and sexual function.

However, they were able to determine that testosterone deficiency accounted for decreases in lean mass, muscle size and strength, while estrogen deficiency was the primary culprit when it came to increases in body fat. Both hormones were found to be important for sexual function, and a deficiency in either had a negative impact on the men’s libido. According to the lead author, Dr. Joel Finkelstein, an endocrinologist at Harvard Medical School: 

“Some of the symptoms routinely attributed to testosterone deficiency are actually partially or almost exclusively caused by the decline in estrogens.” 

Despite individual variations, Dr. Finkelstein’s research offers valuable insight into the function and behavior of estrogen and testosterone at different levels in a man’s body. For example, they found that less testosterone is actually needed for muscle maintenance than previously thought. They also found that:

• In young men, the average testosterone level is about 550 nanograms per deciliter (ng/dl)
• Muscle size and strength does not become adversely affected until testosterone levels drop below 200 ng/dl, which has previously been considered extremely low
• Fat accumulation, however, increases at testosterone levels of 300-350 ng/dl, due to its impact on estrogen
• Libido increases steadily with simultaneous increases in testosterone and estroge

Why Is Poisoning of Children Considered a Valuable Public Health Policy?

The debate over the dangers of fluoride has been ongoing for more than six decades, despite the fact that study after study has confirmed that fluoride is a dangerous, toxic poison that bio-accumulates in your body while being ineffective at preventing dental decay.

Fluoride can also create a calcium deficiency situation by precipitating calcium out of solution. This causes low blood calcium, as well as the buildup of calcium stones and crystals in joints and organs. This could potentially turn out to be a concern with regard to adding fluoride to calcium-rich milk...

Worse yet, when you consider the fact that there are 25 studies showing that fluoride reduces IQ in children, the idea of giving fluoridated milk to school children is a shockingly bad idea, even if they don’t also drink fluoridated water.  Approximately 100 animal studies have also linked fluoride to brain damage. This includes such effects as:

Reduction in nicotinic acetylcholine receptors	Damage to the hippocampus	Formation of beta-amyloid plaques (the classic brain abnormality in Alzheimer's disease)
Reduction in lipid content	Damage to the purkinje cells	Exacerbation of lesions induced by iodine deficiency
Impaired antioxidant defense systems	Increased uptake of aluminum	Accumulation of fluoride in the pineal gland

One particularly striking animal study published in 1995 showed that fluoride ingestion had a profound influence on the animals' brains and altered behavior. Pregnant rats given fluoride produced hyperactive offspring. And animals given fluoride after birth became apathetic, lethargic "couch potatoes." Other research has linked fluoride toxicity with the wide-ranging problems listed below.

Increases lead absorption	Disrupts collagen synthesis	Increases manganese absorption, which is alsolinked to lower IQ in children	Crippling skeletal fluorosis andbone fractures
Genetic damage and cell death	Increased tumor and cancer growth	Disrupts immune system	Inhibits antibody production
Brain damage, and lowered IQ	Dementia	Arthritis	Severe eye problems, including blindness
Impairedthyroid function	Bone cancer (osteosarcoma)	Inactivates 62 enzymes	Muscle disorders

Important Facts About Fluoride

After reviewing the available evidence, the only rational conclusion you can come to is that fluoride's health dangers far outweigh the marginal dental benefits itmight offer. For example, the science is very clear about the following:

• Fluoride acts as a cumulative poison and is in no way a "nutrient.” It offers NO benefits at all to the human body.
• Fluoride exposure for many can easily reach toxic levels. For example, poison control should be called if you swallow a quarter milligram of fluoride from toothpaste. Meanwhile just ONE glass of fluoridated water can contain this amount of fluoride.
• Fluoride is a cumulative poison that has been proven to cause wide-ranging, serious health problems, such as damage to your bones, brain and endocrine system.
• Dental caries can be prevented with means other than fluoridation, thereby avoiding the adverse effects of fluoride.
• Recent research reveals that ingesting fluoride in supplement form does not reduce cavities in primary teeth, and may in fact cause harm.
• When hydrofluorosilicic acid is added to water, over 99% goes down the drain and into the environment.  It never comes in contact with a human tooth

A 2011 Cochrane Database Review, which looked at 11 studies involving more than 7,000 children, showed that the effect of fluoride supplements (in the form of tablets, drops, lozenges and chewing gum) on primary teeth could not be determined, with one study showing no cavity-reducing effect. Meanwhile, the study revealed that no difference was noted between fluoride supplements or topical fluoride for preventing cavities. The researchers noted:

"In the review, no conclusion could be reached about the effectiveness of fluoride supplements in preventing tooth decay in young children (less than 6 years of age) with deciduous teeth. Moreover, insufficient evidence exists to show whether or not using fluoride supplements in young children (less than 6 years of age) could mottle teeth (fluorosis), an effect of chronic ingestion of excessive amounts of fluoride."

Article by Dr Mercola

Tylenol is Killing Americans......

Health Impact News Editor Comments:

ProPublica rocked the world last week by publishing startingly news and stats about acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, which is marketed as a safe, over-the-counter drug.

Health Impact News has published stats on Tylenol deaths in the past, and other reports actually put the death toll much higher than the stats ProPublica used from the CDC. A 2004 published study took statistics from poison control centers around the U.S. and found “458 deaths due to acute liver failure each year.”

A study highlighted in the British media earlier this month showed that the U.K. brand of acetaminophen (Calpol) caused a 5-times higher rate of asthma among children who received only one dose per month!

Here are some highlights from the ProPublica coverage:

Use Only as Directed

By Jeff Gerth and T.Christian Miller 
ProPublica

During the last decade, more than 1,500 Americans died after accidentally taking too much of a drug renowned for its safety: acetaminophen, one of the nation’s most popular pain relievers.

Acetaminophen – the active ingredient in Tylenol – is considered safe when taken at recommended doses. But in larger amounts, especially in combination with alcohol, the drug can damage or even destroy the liver.

Davy Baumle, a slender 12-year-old who loved to ride his dirt bike through the woods of southern Illinois, died from acetaminophen poisoning. So did tiny five-month-old Brianna Hutto. So did Marcus Trunk, a strapping 23-year-old construction worker from Philadelphia.

The toll does not have to be so high.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has long been aware of studies showing the risks of acetaminophen – in particular, that the margin between the amount that helps and the amount that can cause serious harm is smaller than for other pain relievers. So, too, has McNeil Consumer Healthcare, the unit of Johnson & Johnson that has built Tylenol into a billion-dollar brand and the leader in acetaminophen sales.

Yet federal regulators have delayed or failed to adopt measures designed to reduce deaths and injuries from acetaminophen overdose, which the agency calls a “persistent, important public health problem.”

The FDA has repeatedly deferred decisions on consumer protections even when they were endorsed by the agency’s own advisory committees, records show.

In 1977, an expert panel convened by the FDA issued urgently worded advice, saying it was “obligatory” to put a warning on the drug’s label that it could cause “severe liver damage.” After much debate, the FDA added the warning 32 years later. The panel’s recommendation was part of a broader review to set safety rules for acetaminophen, which is still not finished.

Four years ago, another FDA panel backed a sweeping new set of proposals to bolster the safety of over-the-counter acetaminophen. The agency hasn’t implemented them. Just last month, the FDA blew through another deadline.

Regulators in other developed countries, from Great Britain to Switzerland to New Zealand, have limited how much acetaminophen consumers can buy at one time or required it to be sold only by pharmacies. The FDA has placed no such limits on the drug in the U.S. Instead, it has continued to debate basic safety questions, such as what the maximum recommended daily dose should be.

[T]he data show that acetaminophen is linked to more deaths than any other over-the-counter pain reliever.

From 2001 to 2010, annual acetaminophen-related deaths amounted to about twice the number attributed to all other over-the-counter pain relievers combined, according to the poison control data.

In 2010, only 15 deaths were reported for the entire class of pain relievers, both prescription and over-the-counter, that includes ibuprofen, data from the CDC shows.

That same year, 321 people died from acetaminophen toxicity, according to CDC data. More than half – 166 – died from accidental overdoses. The rest overdosed deliberately or their intent was unclear. For the decade 2001 through 2010, the data shows, 1,567 people died from inadvertently taking too much of the drug.

Acetaminophen overdose sends as many as 78,000 Americans to the emergency room annually and results in 33,000 hospitalizations a year, federal data shows. Acetaminophen is also the nation’s leading cause of acute liver failure, according to data from an ongoing study funded by the National Institutes for Health.

Behind these statistics are families upended and traumatized and, in the worst cases, shattered by loss.

Warning: Fluoroquinolone Antibiotics May Cause Permanent Nerve Damage

By Dr. Mercola

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently issued a warning that fluoroquinolone antibiotics, taken by mouth or injection, carry a risk for permanent peripheral neuropathy. The safety announcement states:1

“The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has required the drug labels and Medication Guides for all fluoroquinolone antibacterial drugs be updated to better describe the serious side effect of peripheral neuropathy.

This serious nerve damage potentially caused by fluoroquinolones may occur soon after these drugs are taken and may be permanent... The topical formulations of fluoroquinolones, applied to the ears or eyes, are not known to be associated with this risk.

Peripheral neuropathy is nerve damage in the arms and/or legs, characterized by “pain, burning, tingling, numbness, weakness, or a change in sensation to light touch, pain or temperature, or sense of body position.”

This is not the first warning FDA has posted about this family of antibacterial drugs. In 2008, they posted a black box warning about severe tendon damage. Now having the additional warning for severe and sometimes-permanent nerve damage, there should be NO question in your mind about the danger of these drugs, and I strongly recommend avoiding them if at all possible.

Just Say “Know”

Fluoroquinolones, a class of synthetic antibacterial drugs, are the only types that directly inhibit bacterial DNA synthesis. Several drugs in this class have been taken off the market due to their deadly adverse effects, but six of them remain FDA-approved for use in the United States:

Ciprofloxacin (Cipro)	Levofloxacin (Levaquin)
Gemifloxacin (Factive)	Moxifloxacin (Avelox)
Norfloxacin (Noroxin)	Ofloxacin (Floxin)

Due to their tremendous health risks, fluoroquinolones should be reserved for treating serious bacterial infections that won’t respond to any other treatment, when the patient is made fully aware of the potential for serious adverse events. Instead, they’re often inappropriately prescribed for mild conditions like sinus, urinary tract and ear infections.

In fact, fluoroquinolones are among the most commonly prescribed antibiotics in the United States. I highly recommend you take pause before filling a prescription for these drugs, especially if you have a “routine infection” that has not been treated by other agents that have a safer side effect profile.

You should not expose yourself to this degree of risk unnecessarily! The dangerousness of fluoroquinolones definitely warrants some serious discourse with your health care provider about whether they are really necessary, versus safer treatment options.

Fluoridated Pharmaceuticals Can Be Extremely Damaging to Your Nervous System

Fluoroquinolones may be the deadliest antibiotics on the market. Besides nerve damage, they have been associated with damage to other body systems, including your musculoskeletal system, eyes and kidneys. What makes these particular drugs so hazardous?

It has to do with the fact that fluoroquinolones are antibiotics whose potency has been “kicked up” by the addition of a fluoride molecule. Fluoride increases permeability into hard-to-penetrate tissues, such as your brain.

Fluoroquinolones are quinolones with fluoride molecules attached—so they penetrate your blood-brain barrier. This ability to penetrate sensitive tissues is what makes fluoride such a potent neurotoxin, able to get into your brain and damage your central nervous system.

In terms of peripheral neuropathy, the FDA was not exactly quick to take action. Twelve years ago Dr. Jay Cohen documented the following fluoroquinolone-related reactions, and as you can see, nervous system problems topped the list. Yet it took more than a decade—and many destroyed lives—for the FDA to take action.

Nervous system symptoms occurred in 91 percent of patients taking fluoroquinolones (pain, tingling and numbness, dizziness, malaise, weakness, headaches, anxiety and panic, loss of memory, psychosis)

Musculoskeletal symptoms in 73 percent of patients (tendon ruptures, tendonitis, weakness, joint swelling)

Sensory symptoms in 42 percent of patients (tinnitus, altered visual, olfactory, and auditory function)

Cardiovascular symptoms in 36 percent of patients (tachycardia, shortness of breath, chest pain, palpitations)

Skin reactions in 29 percent of patients (rashes, hair loss, sweating, intolerance to heat or cold)

Gastrointestinal symptoms in 18 percent of patients (nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain)

Levaquin, the best-selling antibiotic in 2010, actually faces thousands of lawsuits per year from people who have been seriously harmed by taking it. The serious reactions reported from Levaquin include:

Retinal detachment, which can cause blindness	Hallucinations	Nausea and diarrhea
Acute kidney failure	Psychotic reactions	Hearing problems
Brain fog	Painful rashes	Disruptions to blood sugar metabolism
Depression	Phototoxicity	Peripheral neuropathy

Fluoroquinolones Destroy Collagen

Animal studies have shown that fluoroquinolones are directly toxic to collagen synthesis and promote collagen degradation. Fluoride disrupts collagen synthesis, which may be part of the reason that fluoridated pharmaceuticals can damage your muscles, tendons, cartilage, ligaments and other structures. 

The fluoroquinolones seem to have an especially detrimental effect on your musculoskeletal system, presumably related to this adverse effect on collagen, which can lead to tendon damage and actual tendon ruptures. This resulted in the FDA’s issuing of a black box warning about tendon damage in 2008.  Fluoroquinolones are not the only drugs “suped up” by the addition of a fluoride molecule. Prozac (fluoxetine), Prevacid, Baycol, and Dalmane (flurazepam) are also fluorinated.

If you or someone you love are placed on these dangerous antibiotics, for whatever reason, one of the ways you can compensate for this toxicity is by taking magnesium.  It likely binds to the drugs and prevents it from causing the collagen damage.  In fact animal studies have shown that magnesium deficient animals can develop similar damage to those exposed to fluroquinolone drugs.  Lack of extracellular magnesium impairs the function of integrins which are transmembrane proteins that connect the cells to the extracellular matrix proteins which provide the functional strength for collagen.

Are We Heading for Even MORE FDA Warnings?

Two other recent studies may foreshadow even more warnings about fluoroquinolones, in terms of liver toxicity and greater risks for people with diabetes. Are we nearing the time when these drugs should be yanked off pharmacy shelves altogether, rather than just receiving more warnings on their labels?

• Moxifloxacin and levofloxacin were found to increase the risk for acute liver toxicity in people age 66 and up. The findings were published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal in August 2012. The authors recommended FDA consider regulatory warnings regarding acute liver toxicity.
• Oral fluoroquinolones cause an increased risk of dysglycemia (high blood sugar or low blood sugar reactions) for those with diabetes, according to a study in the August 14, 2013 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases.

Fluoroquinolone Antibiotic Resistance is Much Greater than Predicted

Fluoroquinolones contribute to the creation of  antibiotic-resistant bacteria to a much greater degree  than experts predicted, according to a report in Frontiers of Microbiology:

“Since quinolones are synthetic antibiotics, it was predicted that mutations in target genes would be the only mechanism through which resistance could be acquired, because there will not be quinolone-resistance genes in nature. Contrary to this prediction, a variety of elements ranging from efflux pumps, target-protecting proteins, and even quinolone-modifying enzymes have been shown to contribute to quinolone resistance. The finding of some of these elements in plasmids indicates that quinolone resistance can be transferable...

Failure to predict the development of quinolone resistance reinforces the need of taking into consideration the wide plasticity of biological systems for future predictions. This plasticity allows pathogens to deal with toxic compounds, including those with a synthetic origin as quinolones.”

Not only are these antibiotics overused in people, but also in livestock (cows, pigs, chickens, turkeys) and in our canine and feline companions. Every year in the US, 29 million pounds of antibiotics—more than 70 percent of the total antibiotic production—are fed to livestock for nontherapeutic purposes, such as growth promotion. These antibiotics are passed on to you in the meat and dairy you consume.

Overuse of various antibiotics has been linked to antibiotic resistant infections like methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus(MRSA), vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) and the potentially life-threatening diarrhea caused by Clostridium difficile (C. diff). According to some research, being given fluoroquinolones is the most important risk factor in developing Clostridium difficile–associated diarrhea (CDAD).

The documentary “Rise of the Superbugs” details why antibiotic overuse is leading to the emergence of nightmare bacteria that have developed near-total resistance to today’s antibiotics. Even gonorrhea and tuberculosis bacteria now have resistant strains. Again, a large part of the problem is that these drugs, which should be reserved for life-threatening infections that cannot otherwise be treated, are being vastly overprescribed. Physicians who prescribe in this manner are essentially trying to kill mosquitos with sticks of dynamite—with collateral damage as described throughout this article.

Fluoroquinolones are thought to be particularly dangerous for children under age 18, adults over 60, and pregnant and nursing women, as well as for people with liver disease, diabetes, or those taking corticosteroids or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). But, they are often prescribed for these groups anyway, without even a passing thought.

What You Can Do

If you believe you have experienced a reaction to one of these antibiotics—or any other drug, for that matter—please report it to MedWatch, the FDA's safety information and adverse event reporting program. It is vital that they hear from each and every one of you who has experienced an adverse drug reaction. This is a major impetus in getting dangerous drugs removed from the market, and physicians almost never report the reactions themselves so it’s really up to you. MedWatch offers several reporting options:

• Telephone 1-800-FDA-1088
• Fax to 1-800-FDA-0178
• File a report online: MedWatch Online Voluntary Reporting Form
• Mail a report (FDA form 3500) in a postage-paid envelope to MedWatch, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, Maryland 20852-9787

There have been so many people damaged by fluoroquinolones that victims have banded together in a worldwide network, calling themselves “Floxies.” Quite a few Floxies are in the medical field themselves (or were, before they were poisoned), and are on a mission to help fellow fluoroquinolone poisoning victims, which is how the documentary Certain Adverse Events came about. If you haven’t already seen this film, I highly recommend it. For more information, you can also visit the following websites (there are many more in addition to these if you search by the term “fluoroquinolone”):

• Levaquinadversesideeffect.com
• CertainAdverseEvents.com
• Fluoroquinolone Antibiotic Toxicity Advocacy Page (Facebook)
• SurvivingCipro.com
• MyQuinStory.com

Statins are the Greatest Medical Fraud Ever Perpetrated.

by Heidi Stevenson

A new study clarifies that statins are the greatest medical fraud of all time. The claims made for them are false. The amount of harm they do is staggering, resulting in millions of lives devastated and ended. The worst part of all, though, is that it was entirely predictable—but studies were designed to hide the truth. The media, the health agencies, and the doctors all provided cover for Big Pharma. After all, there was money to be made.

Statins are one of the most dangerous drugs prescribed by doctors. The risks from them were obvious before they were ever  marketed. Nonetheless, they are among the best selling drugs of all time. Finally, genuine science has been looking at their adverse effects and lack of benefit to document the truth that was obvious from the beginning:

Statins are the greatest medical fraud ever perpetrated.

A new review of the science reports:

The statin industry, with all of its spin-off(s), is a 20-billion-a-year industry. We are observing the revealing of the utmost medical tragedy of all times. It is unprecedented that the healthcare industry has inadvertently induced life-threatening nutrient deficiency in millions of otherwise healthy people.^[1]

The only point on which I can disagree is the statement that the travesty of statins was somehow “inadvertent”. There is, in fact, absolutely no excuse for it.

The authors of the study, Sherif Sultan and Niamh Hynes, have produced a paper that is utterly condemnatory of the use of statins. Not only do they condemn the drugs, they also condemn the pseudo science behind it. Though they don’t state it, and obviously could not take such a risk, there is simply no way around the fact that the science behind statins has been largely fraudulent, and that fraud has been perpetrated by Big Pharma.

So what did the study actually say?

Sultan and Hynes reviewed a large number of studies, using Pubmed, EM-BASE, and Cochrane review databases to find them. They focused primarily on clinical reviews, meta-analyses, and large-scale randomised controlled trials. The entire list of studies they selected is included in their paper, which you can read because it isn’t hidden behind a pay wall.

They stated:

We seem to have fallen into the marketing trap and ignored the niggling side effects with regard to the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors

The “we” the authors referred to was the medical industry. HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors are statins. Their function is to interfere with HMG-CoA, which is a molecule that’s a precursor to cholesterol. Of course, the purpose of a statin is to reduce cholesterol, which they do accomplish.

So what’s the problem? As the authors state:

Cholesterol is crucial for energy, immunity, fat metabolism, leptin, thyroid hormone activity, liver related synthesis, stress intolerance, adrenal function, sex hormone
syntheses and brain function.

Cholesterol is a primary requirement for an enormous array of absolutely critical functions in the body. Obviously, if cholesterol is reduced, then health must be harmed:

• Energy levels must be reduced.
• There must be interference with fat metabolism.
• The thyroid must not be able to function properly.
• Our ability to deal with stress is stressed.
• The adrenal glands’ functions must be damaged.
• Sexual function and reproductive ability must suffer.
• Our brain must be damaged, which can mean any part of our existence may be harmed, including mental functioning, autonomic processes, coordination, and every other function, including the heart.

There is simply no excuse for not recognizing that not only is there an obvious risk inherent in statins, but that it would be stunning if they didn’t produce harm.

The Benefit of Statins

In terms of benefit, the authors noted that the only people who are helped at all are middle aged men who have already suffered heart attacks. And that benefit is minimal. In fact, the authors point out that statins produce less benefit for these men than aspirin. Please note that Gaia Health does not support aspirin as a treatment for heart disease, either.

In effect, statins produce not one whit of benefit to anyone in any manner.

The Adverse Effects of Statins

The authors found that, for every 10,000 individuals in good health who take statins:

• 307 extra patients suffer from cataracts.
• 23 additional patients develop acute kidney failure.
• 74 extra patients develop liver dysfunction.
• Statins increase muscle fatigue by 30% and cause an 11.3% incidence of rhabdomyolysis at high doses.
• They also state, “What’s more, it induces inflammatory myopathy, including necrotizing autoimmune myopathy with immunosuppression and the statin-related myopathy can last for 12 months.”

They also point out that statins cause erectile dysfunction, and that young men suffer 10 times as much erectile dysfunction on low doses of statins. Beyond all these adverse effects:

• According to the FDA’s adverse event reporting system, about 40 out of every 10,000 statin reports are for interstitial lung disease, which causes scarring in the lungs that is almost never reversible.
• Statins cause hyperglycemia after eating in both diabetics and nondiabetics.
• Statins “induce full blown type 2 diabetes in women.”
• Statins increase the risk of developing HbA1c in people with and without diabetes. HbA1c is a condition that causes glucose to stick to hemoglobin, which is an indicator of greater harm from diabetes.
• Statins prescribed to the elderly cause a 9% increase in diabetes.
• Statins can cause insulin resistance.
• A correlation between Parkinson’s disease and low cholesterol exists, which clearly implicates statins.
• A correlation between statins and early-onset cataracts has been found. Statin users may be 50% more likely to develop cataracts early.

Here’s the most shocking health risk of statins:

Statin use is associated with an increased prevalence and extent of coronary plaques calcification. Ironically for a drug which was marketed to lower the risk of cardiovascular disease, the confirm registry identified a strong association of statin use to the progression of coronary artery plaque features.

This isn’t simply irony. Statins increase the harm that they are supposedly meant to decrease!

In relation to this particular heart risk, the authors also found that:

Statin use was correlated with a greater incidence of severe coronary artery stenosis as well as increase in the numbers of coronary vessels developing obstructive coronary artery disease. Furthermore, statin use was linked to an increase in the prevalence and extent of mixed calcific plaque. Five prospective studies have borne witness to the fact that statin therapy does not induce any coronary calcium regression and evolution of coronary calcium continues regardless of statin treatment.

That is, statins increase the narrowing of coronary arteries, which can only increase the chance of heart attacks. They increase the development of obstructive coronary artery disease. Statins may increase calcium-related arterial plaques.

Statins also produce a significant increase in the risk of cancer and neurodegenerative dysfunction in the elderly.

The authors point out even more than this—but just how much more do you need to know? Statins are health destroyers.

Intentionally Hiding the Facts

The study points out that statins may increase the risk for nonmelanoma skin cancers by 1.6 times. The authors then state:

For unknown reasons, since these publications the squamous cell carcinoma has been excluded in all reports from subsequent statin trials.

Is there any way to interpret that other than that the statin industry does not want there to be more evidence that statins cause skin cancer?

The authors referenced studies that had claimed to demonstrate benefits from statins. However, when they were reanalyzed by independent scientists—that is, scientists who genuinely didn’t have ties to Big Pharma—they found that the claimed results were false. The studies actually showed that statins produced no benefit and a great deal of harm.

Cohorts in Crime

It’s bad enough that Big Pharma produces studies that can only be called junk science to give an impression that statins are effective and safe. It’s obviously fraudulent, and all those who have willingly taken part in such  studies—whether by paying for them or doing them—should be prosecuted criminally. There is simply no way to get around the fact that, at the very least, many of these people are guilty of negligent homicide by providing false evidence of both efficacy and safety.

News Media

The news industry has also been guilty, as this study was published over two months ago, yet there’s been virtually no coverage by the mainstream media. This is news that could save the lives of millions of people, yet the mainstream media hasn’t bothered with it. Clearly, their interests are not in real news, but are in their owners’ financial interests. Every mainstream media corporation in the United States is owned by another corporation that also owns at least one major pharmaceutical corporation or is controlled by someone with heavy interests in them. For example:

• News Corporation owns Viacom.
• Ropert Murdoch founded News Corporation.
• Murdoch sits on the board of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).

If that weren’t enough, consider also that the pharmaceutical industry is, by far, the biggest advertiser on mainstream media. To suggest that the news media hasn’t also been complicit is either naive or intentionally misleading. The mainstream news media has clearly determined that their duty, to provide information that the public needs, is not their concern.

Health Agencies

The agencies that are supposed to protect us from harmful health products, such as the FDA, the CDC, and the NIH, have all been complicit in the promotion of statins. Even now, the CDC strongly recommends the use of statins. The FDA does nothing more than add warnings to the package inserts of statins, an utterly meaningless endeavor that has never been shown to have any significant effect on sales of drugs. The NIH states, “Statins are relatively safe for most people.”

It’s obvious that our health agencies are acting almost exclusively as marketing agents for Big Pharma.

Doctors

Last, but certainly not least, are the doctors who prescribe statins. They tend to argue that it’s not their fault, that they can only go by the studies. But the reality is that it’s their job to stand between their patients and dangerous drugs. If they are unable or unwilling to do their jobs—which is clearly the case for any of them who prescribe statins without informing their patients of the risks and almost complete lack of benefit—then they are no different than those who produce pseudo science, junk science, or outright fraudulent science to support these poisons. At a minimum, they are guilty of failing in their duty to their patients. They may also be guilty of negligent homicide for any patient who dies as a result of their lack of diligence.

The Greatest Medical Fraud of All Time

Statins are the greatest medical fraud of all time. It had to be known from the very beginning that they would likely produce a great deal of harm. As the authors point out, statins interfere with the production of cholesterol, thus producing deficits in metabolic functions that are necessary for life.

There is, therefore, no excuse for doctors not to know.

There is no excuse for the news media not to do the research that would have shown them the fraud being perpetrated.

There is no excuse for the health agencies that approved statins or the ones that promote them. They had to have the relevant information.

And finally, there is no excuse for the doctors, because they should have known. If they didn’t, then they were derelict in their duty.

Everyone involved in the development, marketing, approval, promotion, and prescription of statins is guilty of perpetrating the greatest medical fraud of all time. Tallying up the death toll is most likely impossible, but there can be little doubt that the numbers run into multiple millions.

Please forward this article to anyone you know who is taking statins or considering it. They have a right to know the truth—and that truth is not being told by any doctor who prescribes them.

Source:

1. The Ugly Side of Statins. Systemic Appraisal of the Contemporary Un-Known Unknowns;  Journal of Endocrine and Metabolic Diseases; Sherif Sultan and Niamh Hynes; doi:10.4236/ojemd.2013.33025.