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'Huge Advance' In Fighting World's Biggest Killer - Cholesterol

Except that Cholesterol does not cause heart disease and you are at more risk of it if you take them.

Artificially lowering anything is never a good thing.
 
Jamesuk9 said:
Except that Cholesterol does not cause heart disease and you are at more risk of it if you take them.

Artificially lowering anything is never a good thing.
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I don't know.
If I fell off a roof, I'd rather it was lower.
 
"It is much more effective than statins," said Prof Peter Sever, from Imperial College London.

He organised the bit of the trial taking place in the UK with funding from the drug company Amgen."

"However, the trial was stopped early after only 2.2 years of average follow-up and therefore it is difficult to be certain about the actual extent of the longer term benefit, including the impact on dying from heart disease, as well as longer term safety."

So apart from a drug company funding the trial and the trial being stopped early so it's too soon to tell anything, are we all excited?
 
Jamesuk9 said:
Except that Cholesterol does not cause heart disease and you are at more risk of it if you take them.

Artificially lowering anything is never a good thing.
Click to expand...

Lowering sugar levels is a good thing though and the jury is out on whether cholesterol actually causes heart disease/stroke. If it doesn't, what does?
 
PansyP said:
Lowering sugar levels is a good thing though and the jury is out on whether cholesterol actually causes heart disease/stroke. If it doesn't, what does?
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Could I venture a guess and say eating excessive amounts of carbohydrates and sugar. Or maybe lowering along with the "bad cholesterol" the cholesterols we need for survival.
 
JohnEGreen said:
Could I venture a guess and say eating excessive amounts of carbohydrates and sugar. Or maybe lowering along with the "bad cholesterol" the cholesterols we need for survival.
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Bad cholesterol is a myth, it's all essential for survival and repair. High LDL is indicative of much inflammation and arterial damage, it's not the cause of it.

My money is on carbs and sugar too for the cause of all metabolic disorder symptoms and raised markers.
 
If LDL is such a bad thing I wonder why, over millions of years of evolution, has the body continued to produce it? Is it like the appendix, and will be found to have some essential use, currently not known?
 
PansyP said:
You inject every few months and still take a statin though .....
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The cost varies, but it is thought to cost the UK's NHS about £2,000 per year per patient where it is already being given to people who do not respond to statins.

If some people can't even get test strips on prescription do we think it's fair to expect the poor old NHS to cough up this amount of money. I smell some money grabbing BS.

Why would people still take a statin if they're not responding to them?

It's not an early April 1st thing is it?

I did have another thought, even "World's Biggest Killer - Cholesterol" is misleading. It's a bit like saying cars cause accidents and firemen make fires. Surely it's arteriosclerosis that's the problem, cholesterol ends up where arteriosclerosis has occurred because it's doing what it's supposed to do, mend things. Have I got that all wrong?

Something to read. http://openheart.bmj.com/content/1/1/e000032.full?sid=33b7f45c-2414-473b-a8e8-4496b5a91547
 
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JohnEGreen said:
Could I venture a guess and say eating excessive amounts of carbohydrates and sugar. Or maybe lowering along with the "bad cholesterol" the cholesterols we need for survival.
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And yet diabetics who have been on high carb diets for years are living fine lives.


We need to respect everyone's diets. I'd like to know if anyone has links to evidence from posts here? Some interested points made but like I said I'm sick of people's diets being thrown under the bus.
 
PansyP said:
the jury is out on whether cholesterol actually causes heart disease/stroke. If it doesn't, what does?
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In his book The Great Cholesterol Con, Dr Malcolm Kendrick concludes that it is stress that causes heart disease. He's also writing a multi-part (currently up to 27), detailed article. At the bottom of each part is a link to the next one
https://drmalcolmkendrick.org/2016/01/18/what-causes-heart-disease/
Some more reading for your consideration :
https://www.spacedoc.com/articles/fat-and-cholesterol-dont-cause-heart-attacks-1-of-3

Geoff
 
It is ironic that in the UK the cholesterol levels of people who get heart attacks are lower than the general population. Stats do show you that the lower your cholesterol the higher the rate of death from heart disease and from all causes. So, lowering cholesterol may increase risk, not lower it.

Cholesterol is an essential building block used in all cells in the body. In the blood it is used to repair damage in the body. The real issue in the cause of inflammation which cholesterol is trying to fix. Certain types of food such as sugar and grains do cause more inflammation, so it is better to cut these out rather than target the body's healing process which uses cholesterol to heal inflammation.
 
endocrinegremlin said:
And yet diabetics who have been on high carb diets for years are living fine lives.
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Type I or type II? How high is high? Any diabetics in particular? Is that a fine life with high BG? My father and a cousin both type II, both have fine lives and both have appalling BG. It will catch up with them, actually my dad's poor eyesight is due to poor control, but at 90 I can say he has a fine life, just can't see properly.

Type I? I'm assuming one just takes insulin to cope with the amount of carbs you eat. Maybe something for insulin resistance if it's a problem. Apologies for lack of knowledge.

Type II? Different ball game and one that the medical profession treat as a progressive disease. They prescribe Metformin, been around for years, gives a lot of people the worst diarrhea imaginable. Maybe something like Gliclazide to get the pancreas producing more insulin - until it's knackered and insulin is required, progressive as diagnosed.

Managing type II is easier for a lot of people if they restrict their carbs. Might not suit everyone but if people don't want to, that's fine, it's their choice. Sir Steve Redgrave is a good example, diagnosed type II, I wonder if the huge amounts of carb had anything to do with it? He was injection insulin 6 times a day to continue his exercise and training regime. I wonder what he does now? Cut his carbs I expect.

I daresay the LC thing drives people bonkers, it's not for everyone, but it does make a big difference to the lives of many and in many cases will stop diabetes from being a progressive disease.
 
noblehead said:
Or maybe not:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-39292389
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Totally agree with activity levels are the answer to longevity. Even for none diabetics!
For people who cannot exercise they have to look at diet.
Too much of anything is damaging. Including carbs.

There is a difference between moderate carbs and low carb.
Moderate to a person whose overeaten on carbs is another man's low carb level.
Low carb for overeaters who cannot exercise?
 
Utter rubbish. Surrogate marker lowering does not equate to actual benefits. When will the BBC catch up?
 
endocrinegremlin said:
And yet diabetics who have been on high carb diets for years are living fine lives.


We need to respect everyone's diets. I'd like to know if anyone has links to evidence from posts here? Some interested points made but like I said I'm sick of people's diets being thrown under the bus.
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Type 1 diabetics like yourself may have been ok, they can cover their carbs with insulin.

For type 2's its different and the low carbing is one of our few ways to avoid medication and the progression of our diabetes.

Diets are not being thrown under the bus. But you need to recognise the difference in treatment for the two types.
 
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