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Why Women Should Stop Their Cholesterol-Lowering Medication

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Statins have been proven to prevent second heart attacks, but not first heart attacks. Take it if you already have had one, but beware if your doctor recommends it for you if have never had a heart attack.



This study examined the data from the large government sponsored study called the Women's Health Initiative, the same study that disabused us of the idea that Premarin prevented heart attacks in postmenopausal women.

In fact, based on this randomized controlled trial, estrogen replacement therapy, once considered the gold standard of medical care for the prevention of heart disease, was relegated to the trash bin of history joining medicine's many other fallen heroes including DES, Thalidomide, Vioxx, Avandia and more.


During the 3-year period of the study, 10,242 new cases were reported -- a whopping 71 percent increase in risk from women who didn't take statins. This association stayed strong at a 48 percent increased risk of getting diabetes, even after taking into account age, race/ethnicity, and weight or body mass index. These increases in disease risk were consistent for all statins on the market.

This effect also occurred in those with and without heart disease. Surprisingly, disease risk was worse in thin women. Minority women were also disproportionately affected. The risk of diabetes was 49 percent for white women, 57 percent for Hispanic women, and 78 percent for Asian women.

But in a typical "my mind's made up, don't confuse me with the facts" statement by the medical establishment, the researchers said we should not change our guidelines for statin use for the primary prevention of heart disease.


Other studies have recently called into question the belief that high cholesterol levels increase your risk of heart disease as you get older. For those over 85 it turns out having high cholesterol will protect you from dying from a heart attack and, in fact, from death from any cause.

Low Cholesterol May Kill You





Statins Don't Work to Prevent First Heart Attacks

Recently, the Cochrane Group did a review of all the major statin studies by an international group of independent scientists. The review failed to show benefit in using statins to prevent heart attacks and death. In addition, many other studies support this and point out the frequent and significant side effects that come with taking these drugs. [1] If scientists found that drinking two glasses of water in the morning prevented heart attacks, even if the evidence was weak, we would jump on board. Big upside, no downside.

But this is not the case with statins. These drugs frequently cause muscle damage, muscle cramps, muscle weakness, muscle aches, exercise intolerance (even in the absence of pain and elevated CPK -- a muscle enzyme), sexual dysfunction, liver and nerve damage and other problems in 10-15 percent of patients who take them [2] [3]. They can also cause significant cellular, muscle and nerve injury as well as cell death in the ABSENCE of symptoms [4].

There is no lack of research calling into question the benefits of statins. Unfortunately, that research doesn't get the benefit of billions of dollars of marketing and advertising that statins do. One big trial was touted as proving statins work to prevent heart attacks, but the devil is in the details.

It was the JUPITER5 trial that showed that lowering LDL (or bad cholesterol) without a reduction in inflammation (measured by C-reactive protein) didn't prevent heart attacks or death [6]. Statins happen to reduce inflammation, so the study has been touted as proof of the effectiveness of these medications. Mind you it wasn't lowering the cholesterol that helped (which is the intended purpose of statins), but the fact that they lower inflammation. What is ignored by people who use this study to "prove" that statins work is the fact that there are so many better ways to lower inflammation than taking these drugs.

Yet other studies have shown no proven benefit for statins in healthy women with high cholesterol or in anyone over 69 years old [7] [8]. Some studies even show that aggressive lowering of cholesterol can cause MORE heart disease. The ENHANCE trial showed that aggressive cholesterol treatment with two medications (Zocor and Zetia) lowered cholesterol much more than one drug alone, but led to more arterial plaque and no fewer heart attacks [9].


In fact, studies show that if you lower the bad (LDL) cholesterol in people with low HDL (good cholesterol) that is a marker of diabesity -- the continuum of obesity, prediabetes and diabetes -- there's no benefit [10].

Most people simply ignore the fact that 50-75 percent of people who have heart attacks have normal cholesterol [11]. The Honolulu Heart Study showed older patients with lower cholesterol have higher risks of death than those with higher cholesterol [12].

Some patients with multiple risk factors, or who have had previous heart attacks do benefit, but when you look closely the results are underwhelming. It's all in how you spin the numbers. For high-risk males (those who are overweight and have high blood pressure, diabetes, and/or a family history of heart attacks) and are younger than 69 there is some evidence of benefit, but 100 men would need to be treated to prevent just one heart attack.


Despite the extensive data showing that statins are a questionable therapy at best, they are still the No. 1 selling drug in the U.S. What isn't so well known is that 75 percent of statin prescriptions are written for people who will receive no proven benefit. The cost of these prescriptions? Over $20 billion a year.

Yet somehow the 2004 National Cholesterol Education Program guidelines expanded the previous guidelines to recommend that even more people without heart disease take statins (from 13 million to 40 million) [13]. What are we thinking?

Why would respected scientists go against the overwhelming research that statins don't prevent heart disease in people who haven't already had a heart attack?


What Should Women Do?

It is time to push the sacred cow of statins overboard. But first let me say this. If you have had a heart attack, or have heart disease, the evidence shows they do in fact help protect against a second heart attack, so keep taking them.



In plain English, she said that we shouldn't be using statin drugs for women without heart disease because:

1) The evidence shows they don't work to prevent heart attacks if you never had one.

2) They significantly increase the risk of diabetes.

Treating risk factors like high cholesterol is misguided. We must treat causes -- what we eat, how much we exercise, how we handle stress, our social connections and environmental toxins are all more powerfully linked to creating health and preventing disease than any drug on the market.


My new book The Blood Sugar Solution, which comes out at the end of February, gives exact details on what you should put at the end of your fork to prevent and reverse diabesity. It provides a comprehensive solution to the health problems facing our nation today. To learn more and to get a free sneak preview of the book go to

Now I'd like to hear from you ...

What do you think of statins?

Have you taken statins? What has your experience been?

Why do you think the medical establishment prescribes drugs that research shows don't work?

Please leave your thoughts by adding a comment below.

To your good health,

Mark Hyman, MD















For more by Mark Hyman, M.D., click here.

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