Multiple studies analyzed by the doctors at a website named “thennt.com” involved statin drugs (Lipitor, Zocor, Crestor, etc.) that reduce cholesterol levels and thereby hopefully reduce incidence of heart attack, stroke and deaths. They also analyzed similar research about the Mediterranean diet for exactly those same results. The doctors at thennt.com have no affiliation with drug companies and rely on the best and most recent medical studies to form their opinions about a great many treatments. I recommend it highly Here are the results of their analysis of these studies.
Research on persons with no known heart disease, that is no previous heart attack or angina, placed on statin drug therapy for 5 years found the following: 1.6% were helped by prevention of a heart attack; 0.4% were helped by prevention of a stroke; there was no reduction in incidence of death by the statin drugs vs. control levels. On the other hand, 2% were harmed by contracting diabetes, and 10% were harmed by muscle damage. In the Mediterranean Diet studies, 1.7% were helped by avoiding a heart attack, stroke, or death, and 0% were harmed.
Thennt.com states that the great majority of statin drug studies have been done by the manufacturers of the drugs “which have a spotty history of integrity in trial data reporting, suggesting that these data may be a best case scenario”, or some people might say, fraudulent data has been reported by drug companies on a regular basis. Thennt.com further states that preliminary reports indicate that cognitive decline or early dementia may be resulting from statin use.
They then state that “lifestyle interventions such as the Mediterranean Diet are substantially more powerful in achieving CV (cardiovascular) benefits, and do so without harm.” Thennt.com does NOT recommend that a person take statin drugs without prior known heart disease.
Now, what about those people who have had a heart attack or stroke, what is the better course of action, statin drugs or Med Diet? Statin drugs taken for 5 years reduced incidence of a repeat heart attack by 2.6%, reduced stroke incidence by 0.8%, and deaths by 1.2% vs. controls. In the Med Diet studies analysis, 6% were helped by prevention of a repeat heart attack, incidence of death was reduced by 3% and 3% were helped by reduction of cancer incidence. Again, statin drugs caused a 2% increase in diabetes and 10% muscle damage, while no people were harmed by the Med Diet.
Thennt.com sums up their analysis of statin drug therapy for persons who have had a prior heart attack by saying “Caveats: virtually all of the major statin studies were paid for and conducted by their representative pharmaceutical companies. A long history of misrepresentation of data and occasionally fraudulent reporting of data suggests that these results are much more optimistic than subsequent data produced by researchers and parties that do not have a financial stake in the results.”
In contrast are their comments about the Med Diet: research “suggests that diet is nearly three times more powerful than statin drug therapy.” And of course, that is without the increases in diabetes and muscle damage and potential cognitive decline that statin drug use may bring.