True or false: 1. Low cholesterol levels are healthy. 2. You will live longer if you have a low cholesterol level. 3. If you have congestive heart failure, it is better to take a cholesterol-lowering drug. The answer to all three statements is easy: All are false. How can...
The headline in today’s (2.12.10) Washington Post reads, “No cure for heart disease, Clinton’s case shows.” The article states, “Bill Clinton has a new lease on life, but there’s no cure for the heart disease that has twice forced the former president to get blocked arteries fixed.” Further in...
A few months ago, I was invited to give a talk at the hospital that trained me. The chief of cardiology (Dr. David) asked me to give a talk on the holistic approach to the hyperlipidemic patient (or the high- cholesterol patient). Dr. David has been a friend and colleague...
How many studies have to be done which show a drug is a failure before doctors will stop using it? It is a very interesting question in light to the news headlines today about the block-buster cholesterol drug Zetia (Zetia is also part of the drug Vytorin). The New...
Big Pharma is now making a push that cholesterol lowering medications should be used in anyone with signs of inflammation. The Jupitor study (NEJM. VOl 359; 2008) looked at the use of Crestor (a statin drug) in “healthy” individuals who had elevated laboratory tests showing inflammation (via a blood...
