Statins and Type 2 Diabetes
Statins and Type 2 Diabetes
If you have type 2 diabetes, your doctor will probably suggest you take a cholesterol-lowering statin drug – yes, even if your cholesterol is within normal limits. (In cholesterol crazy world, “normal” isn’t safe anymore. The mantra is, “Lower, lower, lower!”)
If so, I hope your doctor happens to subscribe to the Canadian Medical Association Journal. And if he does, I hope he happened to catch a recent CMAJ study in which more than 6,000 type 2 diabetics (many of them statin drug users) were followed for about five years.
Results: “Among patients with type 2 diabetes…both low and high levels of LDL cholesterol were associated with elevated risk of cancer.”
Better than driving your LDL cholesterol down to dangerous levels with a dangerous drug, many patients who want protection from atherosclerosis (narrowed arteries) might do better to reduce LDL oxidation – a key factor in the development of atherosclerosis.
You can read about safe ways to put the breaks on LDL oxidation in the e-Alert “Checking the List” (8/13/08).
