Statins do save lives! The number one reason one has a heart attack is ischemia which is decreased blood flow caused by plaque(cholesterol buildup) and a clot forms.
Yes. Those plaques are caused by carbohydrates.
"If you haven't yet gathered that carbohydrates are a macronutrient nightmare, let me recount the list:
Or, in the cholesterol-speak most people understand, "carbohydrates increase cholesterol." It's counterintuitive, but carbohydrates increase LDL substantially, far more than any fat.
Eggs don't increase blood sugar, nor do chicken, raw almonds, onions or green peppers. But a bowl of oatmeal will send your blood sugar skywards.
Your glucose meter remains the single best tool to gauge the quality of your diet. Many people have horror stories of the shocking experiences they've had when they finally get around to checking their postprandial glucose."
There are the people that no matter how much they limit fats their genetic code will give some readings in the 400-500s
Since eating fats isn't the problem, this is no surprise.
When you eat NATURAL fats, it can raise your cholesterol level, but it raises good as well as bad. What makes your bad cholesterol sky rocket is a diet high in fructose, sugars, and carbohydrates...whole wheat or otherwise.
"For almost forty years, the lipid hypothesis or diet-heart idea has dominated medical thinking about heart disease. In broad outlines, this theory proposes that when we eat foods rich in saturated fat and cholesterol, cholesterol is then deposited in our arteries in the form of plaque or atheromas that cause blockages. If the blockages become severe, or if a clot forms that cannot get past the plaque, the heart is starved of blood and a heart attack occurs.
Many distinguished scientists have pointed to serious flaws in this theory, beginning with the fact that heart disease in America has increased during the period when consumption of saturated fat has decreased. "The diet-heart idea," said the distinguished George Mann, "is the greatest scam in the history of medicine." And the chorus of dissidents continues to grow, even as this increasingly untenable theory has been applied to the whole population, starting with lowfat diets for growing children and mass medication with cholesterol-lowering drugs for adults."
http://www.westonaprice.org/What-Causes-Heart-Disease.html
"Just this week saw the publication of another huge study which assessed the relationship between saturated fat and heart disease [2]. This study was actually an amalgamation (meta-analysis) of 21 epidemiological studies. Taken all together, this review monitored almost 350,000 people over between 5 and 23 years. And heres what it found:
1. No association between saturated fat and risk of heart disease
2. No association between saturated fat and risk of stroke
You know what this all means, dont you? That there really is no evidence that saturated fat causes heart disease or cardiovascular disease generally.
Despite all this evidence to the contrary, I suspect the idea that saturated fat causes heart disease will perpetuate for some time. One reason for this has to do with cholesterol. There is some evidence that saturated fat puts cholesterol levels up, and we all know that cholesterol causes heart disease, right? So, if saturated fat puts cholesterol up, it must increased the risk of heart disease too. Well, this line of argument assumes that cholesterol causes heart disease, and actually the evidence shows this is far from assured. But even if it did, the logic is still faulty. "
http://www.drbriffa.com/blog/2010/0...t-saturated-fat-does-not-cause-heart-disease/
Statins may save lives by doing the same thing diet and proper vitamin D levels can do without the horrible side effects.
"The drugs can be life-saving in patients who already have suffered heart attacks, somewhat reducing the chances of a recurrence that could lead to an early death. But Wright had a surprise when he looked at the data for the majority of patients, like Winn, who dont have heart disease.
He found no benefit in people over the age of 65, no matter how much their cholesterol declines, and no benefit in women of any age. He did see a small reduction in the number of heart attacks for middle-aged men taking statins in clinical trials. But even for these men, there was no overall reduction in total deaths or illnesses requiring hospitalizationdespite big reductions in bad cholesterol. Most people are taking something with no chance of benefit and a risk of harm, says Wright. Based on the evidence, and the fact that Winn didnt actually have angina, Wright changed his mind about treating him with statinsand Winn, too, was persuaded. Because theres no apparent benefit, he says, I dont take them anymore.'
http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/statins/a-bad-week-for-statins/