Here at HSI, our inboxes are always piled high with scientific studies. Everyone on staff shares their findings, as we search for new discoveries to cover in the Members Alert newsletter, or new research to discuss in upcoming e-Alerts. Usually, we share studies that we think are valuable to our members. But occasionally, one of us will come across a study that’s noteworthy for a different reason – because its findings are so absurd.
That was the case yesterday, when one of our editors came across a study that appeared in the Archives of Ophthalmology late last year. The abstract states the study’s objective: to describe the risk factors and associated population attributable risk for age-related maculopathy (ARM) and age-related macular degeneration (AMD), two common causes of vision loss among the elderly. It details its results, which found that ARM and AMD risk increased with age (no kidding), cigarette smoking, and the use of ACE inhibitor medications and cholesterol-lowering drugs.
Are you ready for the punch line? After laying out all the data showing that two widely used prescription drug classes can increase the risk of ARM and AMD, the authors write in their conclusion: “Smoking is the only modifiable risk factor for ARM and AMD, among the many environmental and systemic factors that were assessed.”
Excuse me? Maybe these guys read another study.
Common prescription drugs more dangerous for your eyes than smoking
Let’s review the details. The researchers recruited 4,345 people over the age of 40 from both rural and urban areas in Australia. They assessed the eye health of each participant, and asked them questions about their health history, lifetime sunlight exposure, and dietary intake. Then, through statistical analysis, they calculated the relative associations between the different factors and ARM/AMD diagnosis.
The study’s authors list the risk factors separately for ARM and AMD, even though they showed many commonalities. Not surprisingly, age was the leading risk factor for both conditions. They also shared the same #2 risk factor, namely, a family history of ARM or AMD and #3, use of the prescription blood pressure drugs called ACE inhibitors. For ARM, use of cholesterol-lowering medication took fourth place – but there was no association found between these drugs and AMD. Finally, way down in fifth (or, at best, fourth) place is cigarette smoking – the “only modifiable risk factor.”
No one would argue that you can change your age or your family history. But since when is prescription drug use not modifiable? And we’re not talking life-giving drugs like insulin for type I diabetics – we’re talking about drugs for high blood pressure and cholesterol, two conditions that are often easily remedied with natural approaches and lifestyle changes.
You CAN change the mainstream’s drug habit
The mainstream is so immersed in its own “drug culture” that taking ACE inhibitors and statin drugs seems like the status quo. It doesn’t occur to them that there might be another way, that the situation can be changed.
We’ve written many times about natural therapies for lowering blood pressure and reducing cholesterol so you don’t have to resort to ACE inhibitors, like lisinopril (Monopril, Prinivil, Zestril) and perindopril (Aceon), and statin drugs, like lovastatin (Mevacor) and atorvastatin (Lipitor).
We’ve also written about safe and natural therapies to prevent and slow the progression of AMD, like Astafactor, the powerful antioxidant we wrote about in the November 2001 issue of the Members Alert newsletter. Astafactor contains astaxanthin, a specific antioxidant that can pass the blood-brain barrier. (For more information about Astafactor and to order, call Aquasearch at 1-800-480-6515.)
But there’s a bigger issue here – namely, that medical research is not all it’s cracked up to be. This isn’t the first example of a study published in a major peer-reviewed medical journal that blatantly ignored the obvious. And I’m sure it won’t be the last.
We’ll keep looking for those breakthrough studies that actually reveal new and innovative ways to address your health concerns. And, we’ll keep pointing out studies like these that overlook the facts – and could put your health at risk. If you have ARM or AMD and are taking either ACE inhibitor or statin drugs, they could be making your vision worse. Consider natural alternatives for addressing your high blood pressure and cholesterol and talk to your doctor about weaning you off the drugs.
P.S. For more on natural approaches to managing your blood pressure and cholesterol, search the HSI website for back issues at www.hsionline.com
Source: Archives of Ophthalmology 2001; 119 (10):1455-1462
Copyright 1997-2002 by Institute of Health Sciences, L.L.C.
