The pharmaceutical companies spend million of dollars to convince us that high cholesterol is a villain that will give us a heart attack. Wrong!
An important study out of U.C. San Diego has gathered conclusive evidence that statin drugs such as Lipitor, Crestor and Vytorin have a profoundly destructive impact on the brain and could be causing you serious memory problems.
It turns out they can provoke brain fog symptoms similar to Alzheimer’s Disease. In contrast, higher cholesterol will give us a better brain and may improve the quality and length of our lives.
A team
researchers from Boston University looked at
18 years of data from the long-running
Framingham Heart Study and found an
association between naturally high levels of
blood cholesterol and better mental
functioning. The results were published in
the journal Psychosomatic Medicine.
The research team found a link between
naturally occurring higher levels of cholesterol and
better mental function in areas such as
visual organization, memory, attention, and
concentration. Unlike previous studies, the
current research isolated blood cholesterol
from other well-known risk factors.
Along with high blood pressure, diabetes,
and hypertension, high cholesterol has long
been believed to be a risk factor for heart
disease and stroke...however many
researchers now believe it is "guilt by
association" rather than causation.
Dr. Ravnskov, author of "The Cholesterol Myth" provides us with some little known history.
"It all started with the landmark
Framingham Heart Study, which
began following healthy people in
the early 1950s to see who had a
heart attack and who didn't.
"They [public health officials,
cardiologists, etc.] have confused
a statistical association with
causation," he observed. "It's as
if they saw a house burning and
determined that the bigger the
fire, the more fireman are
present, and then concluded that
firemen cause burning houses."
The
results of the new study showed that the
higher the natural level of cholesterol, the
better participants did on tests of mental
ability. High cholesterol was defined as
> 240 mg/dL as measured in blood samples.
Cholesterol is important for brain
development in infants and plays a role in
how neurons work in adults.
The Framingham Heart Study began in 1955 and
has followed three generations of
participants, measuring the incidence of
cardiovascular disease and stroke and
determining the risk of various associated
factors.
The study, based in Framingham,
Mass., started before cardiovascular risk
factors for heart disease and stroke were
well understood and before patients were
routinely treated with cholesterol-lowering
medications.