***You Mean Cholesterol’s Not A Problem?

The crusade against cholesterol seems to be losing steam, so the poobahs are working on the real cause of heart problems. WooHoo!

You shouldn’t hold your breath, howsomever.

First off, cholesterol drugs bring in really, really big bucks, and that won’t stop until patients start refusing statin drugs. Which won’t be any time soon because patients have been scared silly.

Second, the search for a big-money drug to replace statins isn’t going well.

The real answer comes from vitamins and minerals, Vitamin B especially. Since there’s no really big money in nutritional supplements, though, we’ll only hear discouraging reports about them.

Why is that? Money comes from patents. According to the law, nobody can patent a natural substance, such as a vitamin. With enough money and pressure, though, your government in action sometimes looks the other way and lets it happen. Just not often enough to count on.

So the safer approach–in terms of money, if not health–is jiggering around with a natural substance until it’s different enough to get a patent, yet similar enough to still work.

But there’s a problem. We have very picky bodies. They like natural stuff, and don’t like phoney-baloney, kinda, sorta look-alikes. “Similar enough” doesn’t make it.

This is where things stand in Pharma’s quest to stay in business when statins get knocked out.

Let’s review how we got here.

Inflammation in our arteries causes heart problems. Arterial inflammation creates “rug burns” in our arteries. These rough spots damage our blood as it hurries on its way, and damaged blood causes problems everywhere it goes.

Enter our hero, cholesterol, rushing in to cover the rough spots and protect our blood.

But we keep feeding the fires of inflammation–by eating polyunsaturated vegetable oils, for one thing.

And our tireless hero returns to lay down another layer of protection. Again and again and again, as long as inflammation hangs around.

And one fine day, our arteries are chock-a-block full of cholesterol. Cholesterol sure doesn’t look a hero anymore, and nobody gives even a nod to the greater problems it prevented.

Years ago, researchers misread a study and concluded that getting rid of the dastardly cholesterol would fix things. The study actually pointed to inflammation as the culprit, but Pharma focused on a symptom, cholesterol-blocked arteries, not the cause, inflammation.

And so statin drugs were born. But as time went on, news began leaking out about the downside of statin use. Statins whack the brain, the endocrine system (which controls pretty much everything, including the immune system) and the muscles. Statins protect against nothing, but they cause diabetes, heart attacks, congestive heart failure and amnesia --among other catastrophes. And they kill the liver, too.

Unfortunately, statin drugs do pretty much nothing about inflammation.

Well, as the saying goes, you can’t fool all of the people all of the time, so statins are eventually headed for the Pharmaceutical Hall of Shame.

And the race is on to find a drug that reverses inflammation. Change our diet to one that doesn’t cause inflammation? Nah! Take vitamins and minerals so our bodies can fight inflammation? Nah!

Drugs! That’s what I’m talking about!

Before making the expensive effort to muck up a natural substance to get a patent, they first started trials with failed drugs–already patented concoctions that didn’t work for their intended purpose. Maybe, just maybe, they’ll strike pay dirt with another disease.

Chances are slim to none, of course. So maybe it doesn’t even matter that the studies are using the wrong test to measure arterial inflammation. Sigh.

They’re testing two drugs. One, methotrexate, has side effects worse than statins. The other, Canakinumab, prompted lawsuits to stop the studies because this “cure” is worse than any disease–and more dangerous.

In any case, the studies seem to be headed to a bad end, hopefully not bumping off too many innocent participants as they go.

Then it’ll be on to the next new thing.

Have I mentioned lately that “properly prescribed, properly taken” prescription drugs kill more than 100,000 people a year in the United States alone?

Your immune system loses battles against prescription drugs.

Stick with nutrition.

God is good,

Bette Dowdell