Controlling your cholesterol numbers in your blood reduces a major risk factor for heart disease

Understanding cholesterol

There are very confusing articles written by ‘no names’ and sent to undisclosed recipients via emails.

There is one email circulating beginning para states: ”How much money have you wasted on Cholesterol reducing drugs and how much money have you spent on idiot
doctors who believe drug peddlers and keep telling you that cholesterol is BAD for you?”

Cholesterol is a waxy sticky substance found in all parts of the body. It is crucial to the normal functioning of all cells. 80% of the cholesterol is manufactured in the liver from saturated fats consumed in food. Approximately, about 20% of the required cholesterol is from the food you consume.

No medical personal will tell you that cholesterol is bad: it is necessary for metabolic activities in the body, manufacture of hormones among others. Every cell in your body requires cholesterol for its functions and certain organs of the body are saturated with cholesterol like the brain and the liver. What the medical profession is concerned is the excess cholesterol (hyperlipidaemia) that gets into your blood stream and that needs control through diets and medications.

Another paragraph in the same email states;

“It now turns out that it is actually good for you and that your metabolism can’t function properly without it. You have been killing yourself by taking statins
prescribed by your doctor who has been blindly following the pied piper FDA of the USA. These Doctors don’t keep up with the news and are STILL prescribing statins
just because your test report shows high levels”

Doctors do not prescribe statins as the first line of medication to lower your cholesterol numbers in the blood.

The doctors will preliminarily advice you to start on a low saturated fat, and low sugar diet, with daily exercise like walking for an hour.

After three months if the cholesterol numbers are high then your doctor will recommend you to go on a course of statin and repeat blood test for lipids in every
6 months.

Excess cholesterol in the blood is not the only devil that leads to thickening of arteries, but there are other risk factors such as-obesity, consuming high saturated
and Tran’s fat diets, diabetes, lack of exercise, among others.

This is the reason why 60% of those who get heart attacks have lower cholesterol numbers.

Statins are recommended under the following situations:

If you have had a heart attack or that you have a high chance of getting a heart attack within the next ten years, especially due to familial and genetic factors,
• If your cholesterol (LDL-C) is over 190mg/dl needs to be treated with statin therapy.

• Adult’s -40-75 years of age with LDL-C 70-190mg/dl without clinical atherosclerotic cardio-vascular disease (ASCVD) or diabetes should be treated with moderate to high intensity statin therapy.

• Adults with diabetes and an LDL-C 70-189 mg/dl should be treated with moderate-intensity statin therapy.

Statins have become unpopular because of its side effects.

If you have side effects with one brand of statin your doctor may change to another or he may reduce the dose or advice you to take it in the morning instead of in the
night. Some are advised to take every third day.

Another para in the same email states:

“You have been killing yourself by taking statins prescribed by your doctor who has been blindly following the pied piper FDA of the USA. These Doctors don’t keep up
with the news and are STILL prescribing statins just because your test report shows high levels. It seems that these high levels actually mean that your liver is
performing perfectly. What a scam. 40 years worth of pills paid for, for a lie.”

My final advice is please always listening to your doctor for medical advice and avoid taking these articles written by lay-people seriously.
Good advice by Dr harold