Statins found of no help to seniors, but up their risk of Parkinson’s

Study finds statins especially risky for seniors

When the dust settles, this could turn out to be the biggest bombshell to ever hit the mainstream’s beloved statin drugs.

Actually, it’s a double whammy, striking these meds on two fronts.

One throws ice water on the knee-jerk way statin prescriptions are given out to seniors like candy to children, and the other confirms how these drugs can up your risk of developing Parkinson’s disease.

If you’re currently taking one, or are being badgered by your doctor to do so, this just-out research is something you need to know about right now.

The $64,000 question
Just last week, I told you how a common statin side effect of debilitating muscle pain and weakness can be permanent for some people, even if they stop taking the drugs.

These unlucky patients appear to have a genetic quirk that puts them in the crosshairs of coming down with necrotizing myopathy — a disease that actually kills muscle tissue.

Now, researchers at New York University School of Medicine are asking a fundamental question that should have been posed many years ago: If you’re a healthy senior, will taking a statin “help you in the long run?”

And the answer is (drumroll, please!): Not at all.

If you’re 75 or older, this research discovered that statins can increase your risk of dying.

A study led by Dr. Benjamin Han looked at previous data collected during a big blood-pressure trial. It involved close to 3,000 patients 65 or older who suffered from hypertension but had no plaque buildup in their arteries. Half took a statin drug, and the other half didn’t.

Dr. Han’s team found no health benefits whatsoever in the statin-taking group. Actually, in the half that took the drugs, more of the patients died.

And as Dr. Han pointed out, statin side effects can be more devastating to older people. “Anything that can affect their ability to do activities on a daily basis” puts seniors at “higher risk for further decline” and death, he said.

Of course, you wouldn’t expect such findings to be released without plenty of backlash. But, incredibly, the statin lovers at the American Heart Association said that the “only merit” to Dr. Han’s research is that it “raises questions” that haven’t been “adequately answered” yet.

What? Are they telling us that the AHA, a group that endorses statin use for practically everyone, is now admitting that it never bothered to find out if these drugs would even improve the health of seniors — let alone end up harming them?

And when, exactly, when were they planning to look into that little question?

If that wasn’t enough to rain on the mainstream’s ongoing statin parade, just last week researchers at the Penn State College of Medicine confirmed an earlier investigation into the link between statins, especially the type that’s called “lipophilic” (which includes Lipitor), and an increased risk of Parkinson’s disease.

That danger is something we warned eAlert readers about last year when the Penn State group first announced its findings.

And that study came on the heels of other research out of the UK that discovered you may double your risk of getting Parkinson’s by using statins. That research involved almost 16,000 people over the span of two decades!

The connection between statins and Parkinson’s makes perfect sense, as cholesterol protects your brain. And when you take drugs to drive it down, you become a sitting duck for all sorts of neurological conditions — especially Parkinson’s.

Sometimes, I think that doctors have been hypnotized by Big Pharma into prescribing these drugs for so many. It’s almost as if every terrible thing that comes out is disregarded, attacked or ignored.

But you don’t have to ignore these findings for one more minute.

In fact, your health, mobility and life itself might very well depend on paying close attention.

And if you really need to get your cholesterol down, there are plenty of ways to do so naturally without resorting to statins.

Your first step should be adding more omega-3 fatty acids (from flaxseeds, walnuts or fatty fish), nuts, fruits and vegetables to your diet, while eliminating all trans fats.

And never rely on the Nutrition Facts label on a processed food package where trans fats are concerned. Always check the ingredient label for any “partially hydrogenated” oils, which definitely indicate the presence of trans fat.

“Study casts doubt on need for statins in the ‘healthy old'” Dennis Thompson, May 22, 2017, HeathDay, health.usnews.com