Doc, I've said it before, but it bears repeating - I hope as many people as possible discover your combo of decades of experience, calm and reasoned/balanced approach, without all the sensationalism and attacks so many YT'ers feel the need to utilize. You've become one of my most valued subscriptions.
I have had elevated LDL for as long as I can remember, starting in my twenties. Turn 65 and decided it was time to use MCR and get another full check. Again same situation, I refused statins and my dr got really upset and told me I was going to drop dead at any time soon. Every visit after, caused me stress. I requested a CAC,;dr did not wanted me to have one. Finally, she gave in when I told her I was paying for. I did not want to go without her order, but I was ready to do just that. Well surprise my CAC was a clean zero result. She kind of slowed down, but still would suggest me to get on the med for prevention, she said. I continue to say no, and I still do.
@@MajesticArtimus Sorry, I kind of laugh with the last sentences of your comment. Some drs do not give up pushing their meds, even if the know there is no real need for them. Without meaning of insulting his intelligence, I would have laughed on his face, just because lately, I have to say or express what I am thinking. That skill is usually lost when you are aging.
That’s tremendous you stood your ground! And it’s sad she still doesn’t recognize the error in her understanding of cholesterol! The only reason collateral has a bad name of directly because of fraud. Two Harvard professors were paid off by the USDA in the 1970s to falsify data in order to exonerate sugar!! SO THE BLAMED HEART DISEASE IN CHOLESTEROL WHEN IT’S REALLY SUGAR! And doctors have been using this falls data ever since. Maddening to say the least. Look it up. There’s even more horror to it.
Stopping Lipitor is one of the reasons I fixed fatty liver along with low carbohydrate diet and intermittent fasting, and I noticed I have higher testosterone due to increased cholesterol
Absolutely! Cholesterol is the building blocks for hormones. Also, Lipitor is a Statin that can get through the blood brain barrier and mess with your brain's ability to produce cholesterols. David Diamond PhD. researched and wrote a paper on this about 10 years ago and found that this stain lowering drug may be related to dementia. Scary stuff.
@erniedunbar9712 The manufacturer tells you that if you have any side effects, you shouldn't be using this stuff. Your doctor is not following the directions that come with the bottle. At a certain age, you're not supposed to be using it anyway. The stuff will eventually cause heart failure and mental decline.
When I was put on statins I developed what one could call a general malaise, a continual feeling of unwellness. This went when the statins were discontinued.
I'm sorry Dr Westman - I couldn't finish watching this - listening to Dr Greger had such a bad effect on my, it was reducing the length of my telomeres
Why are docs who prescribe statins not aware of the possibility that theyre contributing to brain fog and cognitive decline? The escalating incidence of TTD in statin users is also worrisome but not often discussed. The 'diminishing returns' of prescribing them in people over 65 seems to be ignored too.
Because in the manufacturer's seminar they were shown data that suggests that side effects are negligible and that most people will just make side effects up.
That's a good point. If you want to take a statin, go for it as long as you don't have any side effects. Anyone taking a statin will have some adverse side effect. That's if you bother to check and don't let your doctor tell you you're just getting old. Before taking a statin, my dad was active and alert, driving and cutting wood. Afterward, he was using a walker and was half out of it. He still had his mind, but was not all there. That's not really survival.
Also when I changed my food, went off statins I STOPPED having heart attacks. The benefit of statins is anti- inflammatory. Food is a better weapon for that.
When l asked for a CAC, hba1c and fasting blood glucose tests, the "Dr. refused to order them. She would only order a CBC. When l got a copy of my record and results, it said l was enrolled in smoking cessation classes. I'm not a smoker. The obese Dr. was a smoker and didn't know what a coronary artery calcification scan was. I haven't gone back and prefer no health care. Keto since 2019 and carnivore since July 2023.
"You don't want to take a pill to reduce a disease you don't have." I love the absolute clarity you bring to this subject, Dr. Westman. I'm going to say this next time I see my sweet PA who is worried about my cholesterol levels and wants me to take statins 🤗 72 here. I'm going to suggest to him we look at my arteries. As of 2016 they were clean as a whistle and I'd had high cholesterol for 2 decades (but a great triglycerides/HDL ratio).
What great information!! Yeah, MOST doctors want us on a LOT of medication!! Since I went keto, then Carnivore, I am no longer type 2 diabetic, and I have come off 7 of my 11 meds!! I'm 71 and feel better than I have in over 20 years!! So many of my friends and relatives see the improvement in my health, but say they could NEVER give up their sweets! All I can do is pray for them and hope they will wake up to all the lies we have been told for so many years!! Appreciate you sharing such great information!! God bless you!! ❤🤗🤗🙏🙏🙏
@@kipholscher1812 yes, I weighed 204 at my heaviest, and was down to 158 lbs when doctor stopped my metphormin and said I was no longer type 2 diabetic!! Now I am happy at 124 lbs! And feel wonderful!! God bless you in your journey!! 😀😀🙏
Great story! I thank my lucky stars that I never got addicted to sugar. I've still got about 3 pounds of a 5 lb bag I bought in 1987 - lol. I keep it around for guests who want sugar in their tea. BTW - I'm 74 and haven't been on any prescribed meds ever (except for an occasional antibiotic over the decades). On Atkins in the 80s and 90s and on keto diet for 5 years now so feeling great!
@@Kinkle_Z great! Eating right certainly does make a difference!! Wish I had stuck with keto when I first tried what was just a low carb diet when I needed to lose weight in college! You have done a fantastic job!! God bless you! 😀🤗🙏
My cardiologist took me off my statin several months ago. I was just retested and little change in my numbers. Total cholesterol was 154, HDL 43, triglycerides 50. So I think it was a good decision.
In 1984 I took to eating 3 eggs everyday and had high cholesterol, never bought the cholesterol scam, had to teach my doctor that my blood cholesterol was fine and that she got scammed, took 6 months and my doctor found out she got scammed in med school, this was in 1986, so l had already two years of eating 3 eggs a day. I did the 3 eggs a day for 20 years and finally got bored with eating breakfast opened my eating window for at least 12 hours. Too bad we didn't have a better understanding of what carbs actually does to you. Back in the day 30% was a lower carb diet with 50% fat and 20% protein, of course butter and beef were quality sources, you always need those essential fatty acids
May I ask if you have good trig/HDL ratio with *high* LDL? I am metabolically healthy after changing to low carb lifestyle but I am an LDL hyper responder (but not lean mass). A CAC was done 1 year after starting low carb and the result was 0 (which I think is highly unlikely to be associated with the change). I'm 65 and the cardiologist and GP both want me on a statin, to which I have said no thanks. My GP graduated in 2018 and is going by TC/HDL ratio, not trig/HDL here in Australia; I did draw her attention to my good trig/HDL ratio. I thought she was going to have kittens when reviewing my results and her telling me that you know I want you on a statin and you are at a very high risk of heart disease. I told her that I believe that the cholesterol is the body's way of repairing damage by inflammation, and is not the initial cause of the damage. I consider myself very fortunate after having eaten a bad diet for so many years being diagnosed with fatty liver at least 20 years prior to being diagnosed with diabetes.
@jobrown8146 l have had high HDL my whole life, I have had excellent numbers my whole life, resting HR in the 40s, and my most recent BP was 105/67, but l have been athletic my entire life, am 62 now
But remember, doing just one test is only useful when the result is zero. If it's non-zero, you have to repeat it every couple of years to see if your current life style has slowed progression or not.
But if you do have cancer, they WILL insist on the standard number of toxic treatments EVEN IF the disease is no longer detected and your cell counts are very low.
I have two main problems with Dr. Gregor's analysis of the accrual of relative risk benefits over time. First, the way it is presented implies that everyone in the group of 100 in the example has the same 2% risk of dying and the same 1% risk of having death delayed. But that is not what the research shows. The research results are probabilities at the population level, not at the individual level. At the individual level, the 2 people who died in the control group each had a 100% probability of dying while the 1 person who died in the test group had a 100% probability of dying. Everyone else had a 0% probability of dying that year. Population-level statistics do not translate well to the specific probabilities or risks that any one person in the population has. The second problem I have with the aggregation approach is the implied assumption that as each year passes, another 1 person out of the group will avoid death compared to the two people in the control group who would have died. However, if there is a 1% absolute risk reduction for the group as a whole, the most likely person to benefit in each subsequent year is the same one person who benefited in the first year. Most drug trials and drug research are for periods of 2 to 5 years. The 1% population level absolute risk reduction is for the length of the study, not the per year risk reduction. The average age of test subjects is typically in the late 50s. Even if the benefit accrued by increasing the number of people who benefited every additional test period cycle, that would still be on a single digit number of people benefiting compared to 90% or so of people who did not benefit, with that entire 90% having been subjected to the costs and side effects risks of statins for a 20 to 30 year period. Finally, the editorial staffs of both the New England Journal of Medicine and the British Medical Journal have both taken the position that presenting relative risk reduction without also disclosing absolute risk reduction is deceptive presentation. That is even more deceptive when benefits are presented in terms of relative risk reduction and side effects are presented in terms of absolute risk reduction.
Anytime a doctor tells you to take a synthetic substance created in a lab by humans over changing your diet and lifestyle, one should pause and reconsider.
Prof Westman! Isn't Michael Gregor a half baked doctor who never completed his residency? Prof Bart Kay makes hilarious jokes about him. He is all about misguiding people to bring them down to his level. It is amazing that he stands on two legs (should have been four). How desperate he is to convince people to take Statins! Mind blowing! Good job that you have reviewed this video. Thanks!
My GP who graduated in 2018 is going by the TC/HDL ratio. I drew her attention to my trig/HDL being good. I am now metabolically healthy with a CAC of 0 at age 65 and both cardiologist and GP want me on a statin because my LDL has increased. No thanks.
There is no association between LDL-C and atherossclerosis if you substract LP(a) from the LDL-C. Let that sink in. And then ask if statins decrease LP(a). Answer is no. So whatever the effect is, it's not based on lowering total LDL-C. And yes, you can "improve" LP(a) by your diet, just not the diet they tested.
The slight of hand here is people that say to eat a "whole food plant based diet" because meat is bad for you. If the real problem is meat, why can't I eat a 100% plant based food like donuts?
I have a book titled, 'The Dark Side of Statins'. After my dad's problem with statins, I declined treatment with statins years ago. I gave my doctor a copy of this book. She thanked me the next time I went in and said she agreed. She never tried to prescribe a statin for me again. It's a good book. BTW, when I went on a light keto diet, my cholesterol went down. Also it looks like the more fish I eat, the lower it goes. I did have a stress test a couple of years ago and had no artherioscerosis. At 14:20, did you hear the doctor pushing statins say 'presumably'?
Stress can cause a heart attack. A statin reduces stress by turning off the brain. A vegetable doesn't worry about politics, marital issues, or what someone said about it.
Statins reduce, down-regulate the GLUT4 receptor needed to take glucose from the blood into the cell. This causes hyperglycemia that leads to hyperinsulinemia, increase in insulin-like growth factor (IGF) and increase in transient receptor potential channel vanilloid 1 (TRPV1). TRPV1 is on the cytoplasmic and mitochondrial membranes that in turn cause too much glucose into the cell ~independent~ of the insulin receptor and leads to highly inflammatory reactive oxygen species (ROS) that causes insulin resistance and damage to the mitochondria and cell. There are many diseases associated with this up-regulation on insulin, TRPV1 and ROS such as lipid peroxidation, atherosclerosis, polycystic ovarian disease, osteoporosis, etc. When polycystic ovarian syndrome women with metabolic syndrome and had lipid peroxidation were given capsazepine the TRPV1 antagonist, lipid peroxidation STOPPED.
Blood parameters are a bit tricky in terms of making such grand assessments; isn't there current research on LDL and that we may have been all wrong on what LDL really is in light of Lipoproteins and profile analysis?
The entire subject of cholesterol and statins is dependent on who you choose to listen to. It is like today's politics- radically different opinions......
If you know what statin actually does to your body, and you still think you should take it, congrats, you won the Nobel Prize of stupidity. Statin blocks the production of LDL. The body manufactures LDL to transport cholesterol. Cholesterol is like protein or amino acids, are structural components of our body, and it’s the firemen of inflammation. Think what their cholesterol functions mean.
But with the decreased quality of caused by the side effects of the statins (with me anyway), any extra days at all might not even be desirable. I'd rather be able bodied and sharp minded any day, rather than gain a few more days!
That was great information! Thank you Dr. Westman. The only perspective that I was missing here was that even for SECONDARY prevention it would be sensible to take an individual approach to statin treatment and that it should be seen in the context of metabolic health. I is it not a "free lunch" to take a statin - not even for secondary prevention and even if the prospective benefits are certainly higher than for primary prevention, they are in fact not that much higher. Although the cumulative benefits are worth considering so are the accumulative (and potentially negative) side effects. In conclusion, if you obtain metabolic health including very HDL and very low TG would you have any (clinically) significant benefits from taking a statin, even if you are in the secondary prevention group? BTW I am in the secondary prevention group, but I am metabolically very healthy - all my markers are excellent including HDL >100 and TG
If someone's had a stent put in and some calcification was shown during a contrast cath lab x ray , would you take a statin or just focus on keto and exercise
Here is another important thing mentioned in studies that talk about a reduction in cardiac events, but go on to then say "no data suggest a mortality benefit." that is a key finding - you are likely avoiding stroke and heart attack (or thinking you are) to prevent death. This corresponds with many of the statin studies being small number and only reporting improvement in minor events. If a minor event does not affect life expectancy and probably not morbidity, then it's potentially not actionable at all. Viewing mortality and morbidity instead of counting events is important - counting statistics or making judgements about what counts and what doesn't can be inaccurate. Counting death or no death is hard to get wrong.
Towards the end of the video there was mention of a few different tests and even a company that can provide some tests without a prescription. I was hoping to get a little more clarity on some of those items. It sounds like the Coronary Artery Calcium Score and the Coronary CT Angiogram are both tests that would require a doctor's prescription. But the Ultrasound would not. The company Life Line Screening that was mentioned appears to off a Carotid Artery Scan, PAD Arterial Disease Test, Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Test, and Atrial Fibrillation test as a package. Is the Carotid Artery Scan they offer the same as the ultrasound that was mentioned? How helpful is just the Carotid Artery Scan or Ultrasound without the CAC score or Coronary CT?
First off a drug company sponsoring a statin trial is not required to publish results they don't like so the only data on the effectiveness of statins may well have been chosen from a sea of results that collectively showed lesser benefit than claimed or even no benefit. Secondly, side affects including doubling the risk of dementia. My father had dementia, I have no desire to follow his path of mental decline so I won't be taking a statin.
Thank you Dr it is so difficult to go against the doctors decisions as I take nearly 50 tablets a day. Also mouth gels and sprays. I am complicated health issues. Statin is one I worry about a lot. Then the others. No help for food or nothing. I hope Keto will help me at 65 my mental health has broken my heart and head. I'm in UK. God bless you for helping us get more involvement with our choices as we seem to have book reading Dr to prescribe to us. Sad. So sad. Love bernadette ❤❤❤xoxox
I am impressed with your ability to listen to this person. I find that he and Dr McDougall like to cherry pick data from multiple sources and then combine them to make a point that is not supported by the evidence. That and the frequently condescending tone of voice and fear mongering language puts me off.
Curious doctor. You often say it's not cholesterol were worried about it's atherosclerosis. But what if you have atherosclerosis, what would you recommend to treat it? Do you think carnivore or high LDL could be harmful at that point?
Im not a doctor but reducing sugar is probably a good way to go. Carnivore or less than 10g a day seems like a good idea. Did you confirm plaque with a CCTA? This is a good episode to watch they talk about a lot of the markers and possible treatments. ua-cam.com/video/RMK7NHbqjPU/v-deo.htmlsi=XCqP-TZU_rvOOF4A
Unless you have a problem liver, seems reasonable to me to live a healthy lifesyle of healthy foods and regular physical activity ,then do not worry about cholesterol numbers?
What if you already have signficant atherosclerosis? 61 years old...CAC score over 800. Doc put me on statins. I have listened to all the ldl poo pooing of total cholesterol as a marker.... But it seems like the guidance should be for people who are not at risk. Carnivore since Oct 14, 2019, down 75lbs.
Hello Dr Westman! Thank you for everything! Please talk about how the keto diet impact the menstrual cycle. I keep hearing that women need to eat more carbs before ovulation and the luteal phase in order to create estrogen and progesterone, otherwise the cycle can stop. Thanks again. ❤
Keep in mind that these statin trials usually last multiple years (3-5) and only demonstrate the 1% absolute risk reduction. So, using the logic of statin pushers, it would take 6-10 years to see a 2% absolute risk reduction.
From nbci website: Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) is a term used to describe acute infection of ascites, an abnormal accumulation of fluid in the abdomen without a distinct or identifiable source of infection.
@@jobrown8146 Yes, I saw that definition when I Googled SBP, but I do not understand why a risk questionnaire about statins would ask about spontaneous bacterial peritonitis. I think it must be something else, related to blood pressure perhaps?
The Primary Prevention dilemma persists for many, myself included. I stopped my Statin after 30 years with FEW side-effects EXCEPT HgA1C reached 6.4. Now after several years observing low-carb + 50# wt loss HgA1C=5.2. (HDL=65 TRIG=67) However APO-B quite elevated. I remain ambivalent.
Wouldn't thisbecome all much clearer if we replaced cholesterol with an apoB in the analysis? Continuing a dialog about cholesterol should be obsolete. Unfortunately CAD is silent for many and deadly.
What I find ludicrous is that most of these mainstream doctors first inclination is to go to drugs first, and food last to deal with medical issues. Their either benefiting financially from it or are ignorant. Either way it's not a good thing. Poor diet likely got you to the crisis, so to improve your diet is the best remedy, unless you need meds immediately to save your life.
I agree. I love NutritionFacts BUT he's given me pause another time regarding Stevia. He conflates people getting hungrier and stuffing their faces gaining the same weight, even if it doesn't raise insulin. I commented that so many other times he insists on the studies and that a trial be controlled. He does point out that you can do it the very same with Diet, BUT what is totally left out is that because of the Statin you may live longer and not even know your own name from the memory loss it causes often! A Vegetable with low cholesterol.
I'm on a daily dose of 20mg Atorvastatin, I'm not entirely sure if it's purely high cholesterol or if there are some other risk factors. I tried to raise the issue with my doctor he simply said, "They're keeping you alive, come off them if you want", End of conversation. My grandfather died from a stroke and my father from heart failure aged 72 but how is it established that MY risk is higher? Was it simply by asking me? My granfather was a chain-smoker and consumed a lot of alcohol my father had similar habits but not as heavily as my grandfather, maybe that was the problem for them rather than some genetic thing. I don't have atherosclerosis, (or if I do, no one told me) I don't smoke but do drink moderately. I take regular excersise and eat well. I'm currently successfully using intermittent fasting to lose some weight and attending a pre-diabetic course. I'm 68, how can I find out if I really need to be taking a statin?
An observed statistical association between a risk factor and a disease does not infer a causal relationship. Literally, everything has a risk factor for heart disease. Including your show size. It's simple math. But most Americans didn't do well in math. Not even in middle school.
Would like to hear explanations of how statins work. What do they do? What effect can I expect? Rehashing risk/benefit statistics does not help me to know whether a statin might help me or not.
They are HMG-Coa inhibitors, google rosuvastatin mechanism of action. Then google side effects. We are taught we much check liver enzymes on patients who take statins because they could harm the liver.
@@I.identify.as.a and they've told nothing to my husband about that at all and they just put him on all this garbage medicine, they aren't checking any kind of liver enzymes or anything. The doctor says she wishes she could put them in the water supply and that they prevent dementia. Absolute quacks running the show, I trust 0.01% of doctors.
But Dr. Westman, what if you know you have CAD, have stents but after the fact drastically changed your lifestyle and diet, including eating so low carb/keto for years now, to the point of being off two diabetes meds, insulin and now have A1c 4.8 and are down 140 lbs from your highest weight? I should still take a statin as a secondary prevention? Even at the risk of weight gain, brain side effects and loss of regained insulin sensitivity? This is exasperating. 😔
He is making a typical mistake, well known in statistics (statinstics?): if you throw a coin you get heads 50% at a time, quite simple, yes? Now, if you throw a coin 99 times and you lose every single time (playing heads) what is your chance to have heads at the 100th time? well, it's 50%, he and so many people, I dare say most get this wrong. This means that your chance from 1% is always a 1%.
Bart Kay: “Risk is a cause and effect statement.” Dr Westman is too soft on Michael Greger’s nonsense. Greger has only done pseudoscience, not science.
@@mytwopennorth7216 not sure what you mean, but clearly Dr Westman couldn’t even argue that stupid “1% annual relative risk decrease” Greger nonsense. Greger nonsense is making a big giant straw man, a imaginary example, the statistics is definitely wrong, although I’m not stat major, I definitely have the sick gut feeling, you definitely can’t add/subtract %risk in such way in any case, and statin is not something harmless, it’s a metabolic poison in the most literal form, a direct attack on human metabolism. Not only that, risk is a cause and effect statement, statistics can’t and mustn’t give definitive conclusions. Greger’s anything can only come from statistical data, which can only provide insight, or guess, and need real actual controlled experiments to establish cause and effect relationship. Dr Westman didn’t see any of these nonsense.
Impressed by Einsfeld today. He is considering all the science that proves keto as no better for weight loss than any diet, such as Gardener's Diet fits and the works of Kevin Hall. That's the way you advance science. Not by denial & defence. It's as Taubes said--easiest person to fool is yourself. Einsfeld is moving forward, not digging in. I await the algorithm!! ( An hermeneutical for hunger & satiety
💕💕I have diagnosed atherosclerosis of the aorta and had a stroke. I was put on a statin and a baby aspirin 6 years ago. Am I safe and should I stay on it? Or would you say I don’t need it if I don’t want yo take it? Not sure if I’m ok not taking it. I’d love to get rid of meds instead of keep adding more.
Statins deplete coQ10 which can cause weak muscles and of course the heart is muscle. Dr Ken Berry has a video on drugs that deplete coQ10. If you continue taking the statin you might consider supplementing.
I think one real take away here is that treating without confirmation of the disease is ludicrous. Who would even take Tylenol or antibiotics just because. Not any informed person.
People die in car accidents so driving does entail some risk. If someone told me I shouldn't drive and that would lower my risk of dying in a car accident I would laugh. My dr wants me on statins because of the risk of a heart attack. On what basis? I am 82 years old. I said i didn't think that my age alone warranted taking statins. He then said also because of my high LDL. What? I have not had a prior heart attack or stroke. My LDL is 86. My total cholestrol is 162. My triglyceride level is 64 and HDL is 162. In addition on my own I had ApoB levels tested and its 81. I am losing weight (only about 20 pounds overweight) on low carb/intermittent fasting. So on one hand I am a bit fearful of not following my dr's recommendations and on the other hand I am enraged that my dr sounds more like a religious fundamentalist than a scientist. He isn't interested in discussing the matter further.
How did humans manage to evolve and live before statins? Why wasn’t coronary disease and atherosclerosis prevalent before the 20th century? It would appear our “modern diet” and more sedentary lifestyles are more likely root causes.
The scatter gun approach with statins actually diminishes their value. There are people who would really benefit from them, but they are not properly identified. Meanwhile those who don't need them, have side effects. If one's diet is causing metabolic syndrome, then that is the biggest risk factor and should be addressed. Most don't even know how effective diet is because doctors don't bring it up. The statement should be, "we are prescribing this drug because of your bad diet" with this statement repeated every visit. Keto and whole food plant based diets should be offered as options. Getting people off junk food is very important. My blood pressure was creeping up and I was just starting medication (I ate relatively healthy) . It was my biggest risk factor and I was concerned. If it wasn't for my brother trying keto and resolving blood pressure issues, I would never have known that I could fix this with diet. Now my blood pressure has never been better and I am off medication. I'm kinda angry I wasn't told.
I wish there were more science than medical marketing. The comments made to support statins were very much skewed and based on assumptions rather than raw data. Appalling!
"If you're treating the cholesterol to lower the risk of atherosclerosis in the coronary arteries ..." The thing is that it's not cholesterol that *causes* any of these things. So treating cholesterol won't do a dang thing. You need to treat the root causes - for most people diet (carbs, processed food/seed oils, glucose spikes, not fat or red meat), for some smoking and pollution, for others stress is a massive factor. Statins are a great money maker, but not a great life saver or even life improver. What they're really good at is causing lots of unpleasant side effects (including insulin resistance/diabetes and dementia for some of them). Oh, and raising CAC scores, they're also good at that. Dr. Diamond's contention is that the very minor benefit you do see from statins is due to their side effects - which includes some anti-inflammatory and anti-clotting properties, not due to any reduction of cholesterol.
Just to show how false Greger is, as usual. When the NHANES data is investigated by statin status the longest lived people in this cohort were directly proportional to how high their LDL was, indicating that either a) the reduction is a problem or b) the group claiming to take statins were not taking them and thus lived much longer
Diet & walk , not that one , the right & wrong walk ! your bones will be happy with veggies & they won't hurt you or sit on you , & feeds everyone in there , y i a vegetarian 🐟
Dr. Einsfeld (diet doctor) may be on to something. It's obvious Some folks don't have satiety signals . Telling them to eat to satiety is outright ridiculous!! That advice might work for normal folk who need to lose only a few lbs in their later years.
@@rawmilkmike yeah you're right. I mean it's good for blood sugar, but it's not particularly good for weight loss. There's nothing in place for weight loss. So IF a person loses it weight w it, it's probably bc they ate a lot of junk...imo
Funny with so much disagreement in the medical community that the community retains its hubris. No blushing brides there. All the arrogance all the time.
Doc, I've said it before, but it bears repeating - I hope as many people as possible discover your combo of decades of experience, calm and reasoned/balanced approach, without all the sensationalism and attacks so many YT'ers feel the need to utilize. You've become one of my most valued subscriptions.
I have had elevated LDL for as long as I can remember, starting in my twenties. Turn 65 and decided it was time to use MCR and get another full check. Again same situation, I refused statins and my dr got really upset and told me I was going to drop dead at any time soon. Every visit after, caused me stress. I requested a CAC,;dr did not wanted me to have one. Finally, she gave in when I told her I was paying for. I did not want to go without her order, but I was ready to do just that. Well surprise my CAC was a clean zero result. She kind of slowed down, but still would suggest me to get on the med for prevention, she said. I continue to say no, and I still do.
@@MajesticArtimus Sorry, I kind of laugh with the last sentences of your comment. Some drs do not give up pushing their meds, even if the know there is no real need for them. Without meaning of insulting his intelligence, I would have laughed on his face, just because lately, I have to say or express what I am thinking. That skill is usually lost when you are aging.
Statins can increase calcium score by hardening the soft plaque. Hard plaque is more stable. I still won't start back on statins though.
My total cholesterol is 398 and zero CAC. HDL 113 LDL 276 triglycerides 46 VLDL 9
My LDL is high (385). CAC score is ZERO!! No statins for me! 68 years young and going strong on Keto!
That’s tremendous you stood your ground! And it’s sad she still doesn’t recognize the error in her understanding of cholesterol! The only reason collateral has a bad name of directly because of fraud. Two Harvard professors were paid off by the USDA in the 1970s to falsify data in order to exonerate sugar!! SO THE BLAMED HEART DISEASE IN CHOLESTEROL WHEN IT’S REALLY SUGAR! And doctors have been using this falls data ever since. Maddening to say the least. Look it up. There’s even more horror to it.
Real medicine does no harm. Thank you Dr. Westman for being a good doctor.
Stopping Lipitor is one of the reasons I fixed fatty liver along with low carbohydrate diet and intermittent fasting, and I noticed I have higher testosterone due to increased cholesterol
Absolutely! Cholesterol is the building blocks for hormones. Also, Lipitor is a Statin that can get through the blood brain barrier and mess with your brain's ability to produce cholesterols. David Diamond PhD. researched and wrote a paper on this about 10 years ago and found that this stain lowering drug may be related to dementia. Scary stuff.
The same for me but doc put me back on Lipitor at half of what i was on. I feel weak with low energy and brain fog.
@@erniedunbar9712 Have your Doc switch you to Crestor if you absolutely need to be on a Statin. That one does not get through the blood brain barrier.
@erniedunbar9712 The manufacturer tells you that if you have any side effects, you shouldn't be using this stuff. Your doctor is not following the directions that come with the bottle. At a certain age, you're not supposed to be using it anyway. The stuff will eventually cause heart failure and mental decline.
When I was put on statins I developed what one could call a general malaise, a continual feeling of unwellness. This went when the statins were discontinued.
I'm sorry Dr Westman - I couldn't finish watching this - listening to Dr Greger had such a bad effect on my, it was reducing the length of my telomeres
😂
Statins made me feel so bad I didn't care what my risk was. 20 years later I'm still kicking.
Dr Westman, you are so common sense!
A breath of fresh air!❤
Why are docs who prescribe statins not aware of the possibility that theyre contributing to brain fog and cognitive decline? The escalating incidence of TTD in statin users is also worrisome but not often discussed. The 'diminishing returns' of prescribing them in people over 65 seems to be ignored too.
Because in the manufacturer's seminar they were shown data that suggests that side effects are negligible and that most people will just make side effects up.
@wocket42 what 'manufacturers seminar'?
That's a good point. If you want to take a statin, go for it as long as you don't have any side effects. Anyone taking a statin will have some adverse side effect. That's if you bother to check and don't let your doctor tell you you're just getting old. Before taking a statin, my dad was active and alert, driving and cutting wood. Afterward, he was using a walker and was half out of it. He still had his mind, but was not all there. That's not really survival.
Also when I changed my food, went off statins I STOPPED having heart attacks. The benefit of statins is anti- inflammatory. Food is a better weapon for that.
Every time I hear the voice of "Dr" Greger I get noxious.
When l asked for a CAC, hba1c and fasting blood glucose tests, the "Dr. refused to order them. She would only order a CBC. When l got a copy of my record and results, it said l was enrolled in smoking cessation classes. I'm not a smoker. The obese Dr. was a smoker and didn't know what a coronary artery calcification scan was. I haven't gone back and prefer no health care. Keto since 2019 and carnivore since July 2023.
"You don't want to take a pill to reduce a disease you don't have." I love the absolute clarity you bring to this subject, Dr. Westman. I'm going to say this next time I see my sweet PA who is worried about my cholesterol levels and wants me to take statins 🤗 72 here. I'm going to suggest to him we look at my arteries. As of 2016 they were clean as a whistle and I'd had high cholesterol for 2 decades (but a great triglycerides/HDL ratio).
What great information!! Yeah, MOST doctors want us on a LOT of medication!! Since I went keto, then Carnivore, I am no longer type 2 diabetic, and I have come off 7 of my 11 meds!! I'm 71 and feel better than I have in over 20 years!! So many of my friends and relatives see the improvement in my health, but say they could NEVER give up their sweets! All I can do is pray for them and hope they will wake up to all the lies we have been told for so many years!! Appreciate you sharing such great information!! God bless you!! ❤🤗🤗🙏🙏🙏
Were you overweight when you were diabetic?
@@kipholscher1812 yes, I weighed 204 at my heaviest, and was down to 158 lbs when doctor stopped my metphormin and said I was no longer type 2 diabetic!! Now I am happy at 124 lbs! And feel wonderful!! God bless you in your journey!! 😀😀🙏
Great story! I thank my lucky stars that I never got addicted to sugar. I've still got about 3 pounds of a 5 lb bag I bought in 1987 - lol. I keep it around for guests who want sugar in their tea. BTW - I'm 74 and haven't been on any prescribed meds ever (except for an occasional antibiotic over the decades). On Atkins in the 80s and 90s and on keto diet for 5 years now so feeling great!
@@Kinkle_Z great! Eating right certainly does make a difference!! Wish I had stuck with keto when I first tried what was just a low carb diet when I needed to lose weight in college! You have done a fantastic job!! God bless you! 😀🤗🙏
My cardiologist took me off my statin several months ago. I was just retested and little change in my numbers. Total cholesterol was 154, HDL 43, triglycerides 50. So I think it was a good decision.
In 1984 I took to eating 3 eggs everyday and had high cholesterol, never bought the cholesterol scam, had to teach my doctor that my blood cholesterol was fine and that she got scammed, took 6 months and my doctor found out she got scammed in med school, this was in 1986, so l had already two years of eating 3 eggs a day. I did the 3 eggs a day for 20 years and finally got bored with eating breakfast opened my eating window for at least 12 hours. Too bad we didn't have a better understanding of what carbs actually does to you. Back in the day 30% was a lower carb diet with 50% fat and 20% protein, of course butter and beef were quality sources, you always need those essential fatty acids
May I ask if you have good trig/HDL ratio with *high* LDL? I am metabolically healthy after changing to low carb lifestyle but I am an LDL hyper responder (but not lean mass). A CAC was done 1 year after starting low carb and the result was 0 (which I think is highly unlikely to be associated with the change). I'm 65 and the cardiologist and GP both want me on a statin, to which I have said no thanks. My GP graduated in 2018 and is going by TC/HDL ratio, not trig/HDL here in Australia; I did draw her attention to my good trig/HDL ratio. I thought she was going to have kittens when reviewing my results and her telling me that you know I want you on a statin and you are at a very high risk of heart disease. I told her that I believe that the cholesterol is the body's way of repairing damage by inflammation, and is not the initial cause of the damage. I consider myself very fortunate after having eaten a bad diet for so many years being diagnosed with fatty liver at least 20 years prior to being diagnosed with diabetes.
@jobrown8146 l have had high HDL my whole life, I have had excellent numbers my whole life, resting HR in the 40s, and my most recent BP was 105/67, but l have been athletic my entire life, am 62 now
When I saw that you were reviewing a video by Dr Greger, a almost clicked it off. I've had my fill of his plant based quackery.
I guess I won't watch. I think I know what each will say. I will thumbs up tho
My CAC score test only cost $75 in my area. Worth doing for sure.
But remember, doing just one test is only useful when the result is zero. If it's non-zero, you have to repeat it every couple of years to see if your current life style has slowed progression or not.
I used Dr. Westman’s cholesterol class to convince my personal doctor that I didn’t need a statin.
But if you do have cancer, they WILL insist on the standard number of toxic treatments EVEN IF the disease is no longer detected and your cell counts are very low.
I have two main problems with Dr. Gregor's analysis of the accrual of relative risk benefits over time.
First, the way it is presented implies that everyone in the group of 100 in the example has the same 2% risk of dying and the same 1% risk of having death delayed. But that is not what the research shows. The research results are probabilities at the population level, not at the individual level. At the individual level, the 2 people who died in the control group each had a 100% probability of dying while the 1 person who died in the test group had a 100% probability of dying. Everyone else had a 0% probability of dying that year. Population-level statistics do not translate well to the specific probabilities or risks that any one person in the population has.
The second problem I have with the aggregation approach is the implied assumption that as each year passes, another 1 person out of the group will avoid death compared to the two people in the control group who would have died. However, if there is a 1% absolute risk reduction for the group as a whole, the most likely person to benefit in each subsequent year is the same one person who benefited in the first year.
Most drug trials and drug research are for periods of 2 to 5 years. The 1% population level absolute risk reduction is for the length of the study, not the per year risk reduction. The average age of test subjects is typically in the late 50s. Even if the benefit accrued by increasing the number of people who benefited every additional test period cycle, that would still be on a single digit number of people benefiting compared to 90% or so of people who did not benefit, with that entire 90% having been subjected to the costs and side effects risks of statins for a 20 to 30 year period.
Finally, the editorial staffs of both the New England Journal of Medicine and the British Medical Journal have both taken the position that presenting relative risk reduction without also disclosing absolute risk reduction is deceptive presentation. That is even more deceptive when benefits are presented in terms of relative risk reduction and side effects are presented in terms of absolute risk reduction.
We take medication to treat our diets. I see it this way and Dr Westman puts everything into perspective, thank you for all you do.
Anytime a doctor tells you to take a synthetic substance created in a lab by humans over changing your diet and lifestyle, one should pause and reconsider.
Prof Westman! Isn't Michael Gregor a half baked doctor who never completed his residency? Prof Bart Kay makes hilarious jokes about him. He is all about misguiding people to bring them down to his level. It is amazing that he stands on two legs (should have been four). How desperate he is to convince people to take Statins! Mind blowing!
Good job that you have reviewed this video. Thanks!
My GP who graduated in 2018 is going by the TC/HDL ratio. I drew her attention to my trig/HDL being good. I am now metabolically healthy with a CAC of 0 at age 65 and both cardiologist and GP want me on a statin because my LDL has increased. No thanks.
There is no association between LDL-C and atherossclerosis if you substract LP(a) from the LDL-C. Let that sink in. And then ask if statins decrease LP(a). Answer is no. So whatever the effect is, it's not based on lowering total LDL-C. And yes, you can "improve" LP(a) by your diet, just not the diet they tested.
It's all about 💰💰💰
The slight of hand here is people that say to eat a "whole food plant based diet" because meat is bad for you. If the real problem is meat, why can't I eat a 100% plant based food like donuts?
Exactly. Also, why do vegans suffer heart attacks at all? Their risk is not too different to that of SAD eaters after all.
I have a book titled, 'The Dark Side of Statins'. After my dad's problem with statins, I declined treatment with statins years ago. I gave my doctor a copy of this book. She thanked me the next time I went in and said she agreed. She never tried to prescribe a statin for me again. It's a good book. BTW, when I went on a light keto diet, my cholesterol went down. Also it looks like the more fish I eat, the lower it goes. I did have a stress test a couple of years ago and had no artherioscerosis.
At 14:20, did you hear the doctor pushing statins say 'presumably'?
Please be aware that large fish may contain more mercury.
Thank you.@@jobrown8146
Stress can cause a heart attack. A statin reduces stress by turning off the brain. A vegetable doesn't worry about politics, marital issues, or what someone said about it.
Great video Dr. Westman
Great series, format. thank you dr Westman
Statins reduce, down-regulate the GLUT4 receptor needed to take glucose from the blood into the cell. This causes hyperglycemia that leads to hyperinsulinemia, increase in insulin-like growth factor (IGF) and increase in transient receptor potential channel vanilloid 1 (TRPV1). TRPV1 is on the cytoplasmic and mitochondrial membranes that in turn cause too much glucose into the cell ~independent~ of the insulin receptor and leads to highly inflammatory reactive oxygen species (ROS) that causes insulin resistance and damage to the mitochondria and cell. There are many diseases associated with this up-regulation on insulin, TRPV1 and ROS such as lipid peroxidation, atherosclerosis, polycystic ovarian disease, osteoporosis, etc. When polycystic ovarian syndrome women with metabolic syndrome and had lipid peroxidation were given capsazepine the TRPV1 antagonist, lipid peroxidation STOPPED.
You are the best. Everyone should listen to you. Great information.
Thank you, dr. Westman! I looked at the Mayo Clinic tool, and I immediately thought - "How can I be in the healthy group?" That is the Real Question.
Thank you for your explanations. You are always so clear and reassuring. Thank you!
Blood parameters are a bit tricky in terms of making such grand assessments; isn't there current research on LDL and that we may have been all wrong on what LDL really is in light of Lipoproteins and profile analysis?
The entire subject of cholesterol and statins is dependent on who you choose to listen to. It is like today's politics- radically different opinions......
Yes indeed 💯👍
If you know what statin actually does to your body, and you still think you should take it, congrats, you won the Nobel Prize of stupidity. Statin blocks the production of LDL. The body manufactures LDL to transport cholesterol. Cholesterol is like protein or amino acids, are structural components of our body, and it’s the firemen of inflammation. Think what their cholesterol functions mean.
Yes: the seller and their team of sales people errr doctors and the other side. LOL!
When big pharma is involved, expect skewed perspectives. Research David Diamond PhD.
Isn’t it moronic that taking statins depletes your CoQ10 enzyme? and these vegan propagandists avoid eating red meat which is very high CoQ10😂
Omg. DYING laughing. 3 or 4 days postponement of death. Woohoo, sign me up, doc 😂😂😂😂😂😂
But with the decreased quality of caused by the side effects of the statins (with me anyway), any extra days at all might not even be desirable. I'd rather be able bodied and sharp minded any day, rather than gain a few more days!
@@tkat6442 right?!?? Totes agree!
That was great information! Thank you Dr. Westman. The only perspective that I was missing here was that even for SECONDARY prevention it would be sensible to take an individual approach to statin treatment and that it should be seen in the context of metabolic health. I is it not a "free lunch" to take a statin - not even for secondary prevention and even if the prospective benefits are certainly higher than for primary prevention, they are in fact not that much higher. Although the cumulative benefits are worth considering so are the accumulative (and potentially negative) side effects. In conclusion, if you obtain metabolic health including very HDL and very low TG would you have any (clinically) significant benefits from taking a statin, even if you are in the secondary prevention group? BTW I am in the secondary prevention group, but I am metabolically very healthy - all my markers are excellent including HDL >100 and TG
If someone's had a stent put in and some calcification was shown during a contrast cath lab x ray , would you take a statin or just focus on keto and exercise
Here is another important thing mentioned in studies that talk about a reduction in cardiac events, but go on to then say "no data suggest a mortality benefit."
that is a key finding - you are likely avoiding stroke and heart attack (or thinking you are) to prevent death. This corresponds with many of the statin studies being small number and only reporting improvement in minor events. If a minor event does not affect life expectancy and probably not morbidity, then it's potentially not actionable at all.
Viewing mortality and morbidity instead of counting events is important - counting statistics or making judgements about what counts and what doesn't can be inaccurate. Counting death or no death is hard to get wrong.
I would not take a statin even if it would save me just to not have to listen to Greger’s voice ever again😂nails on a chalkboard 😵
Agreed. His voice is totally ridiculous.
Come on he sounds so virile and masculine. All the veggies are really working out well.
Thank you Dr. Westman, valuable information
Very helpful 👍🏼💃🥰
If you’re over 65, people with higher LDL live longer than people with lower LDL.
Why would you want to lower it?
Cant even use the Msyo clinic assessment because mt non statin total cholesterol is 422. Triglicerides/HDL 147/50.
Towards the end of the video there was mention of a few different tests and even a company that can provide some tests without a prescription.
I was hoping to get a little more clarity on some of those items.
It sounds like the Coronary Artery Calcium Score and the Coronary CT Angiogram are both tests that would require a doctor's prescription. But the Ultrasound would not.
The company Life Line Screening that was mentioned appears to off a Carotid Artery Scan, PAD Arterial Disease Test, Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Test, and Atrial Fibrillation test as a package. Is the Carotid Artery Scan they offer the same as the ultrasound that was mentioned?
How helpful is just the Carotid Artery Scan or Ultrasound without the CAC score or Coronary CT?
First off a drug company sponsoring a statin trial is not required to publish results they don't like so the only data on the effectiveness of statins may well have been chosen from a sea of results that collectively showed lesser benefit than claimed or even no benefit. Secondly, side affects including doubling the risk of dementia. My father had dementia, I have no desire to follow his path of mental decline so I won't be taking a statin.
Great info. Thanks doc 👍
Thank you Dr it is so difficult to go against the doctors decisions as I take nearly 50 tablets a day. Also mouth gels and sprays. I am complicated health issues. Statin is one I worry about a lot. Then the others. No help for food or nothing. I hope Keto will help me at 65 my mental health has broken my heart and head. I'm in UK. God bless you for helping us get more involvement with our choices as we seem to have book reading Dr to prescribe to us. Sad. So sad. Love bernadette ❤❤❤xoxox
What if you were prescribed Statins for CHF and high blood pressure?
I am impressed with your ability to listen to this person. I find that he and Dr McDougall like to cherry pick data from multiple sources and then combine them to make a point that is not supported by the evidence. That and the frequently condescending tone of voice and fear mongering language puts me off.
Curious doctor. You often say it's not cholesterol were worried about it's atherosclerosis. But what if you have atherosclerosis, what would you recommend to treat it? Do you think carnivore or high LDL could be harmful at that point?
Im not a doctor but reducing sugar is probably a good way to go. Carnivore or less than 10g a day seems like a good idea. Did you confirm plaque with a CCTA? This is a good episode to watch they talk about a lot of the markers and possible treatments.
ua-cam.com/video/RMK7NHbqjPU/v-deo.htmlsi=XCqP-TZU_rvOOF4A
Unless you have a problem liver, seems reasonable to me to live a healthy lifesyle of healthy foods and regular physical activity ,then do not worry about cholesterol numbers?
What if you already have signficant atherosclerosis? 61 years old...CAC score over 800. Doc put me on statins. I have listened to all the ldl poo pooing of total cholesterol as a marker.... But it seems like the guidance should be for people who are not at risk. Carnivore since Oct 14, 2019, down 75lbs.
I love your posts. TY
This is an easy one. Study after study says statins decrease overall mortality. We need LDL especially as we get older.
Hello Dr Westman! Thank you for everything! Please talk about how the keto diet impact the menstrual cycle. I keep hearing that women need to eat more carbs before ovulation and the luteal phase in order to create estrogen and progesterone, otherwise the cycle can stop. Thanks again. ❤
Keep in mind that these statin trials usually last multiple years (3-5) and only demonstrate the 1% absolute risk reduction. So, using the logic of statin pushers, it would take 6-10 years to see a 2% absolute risk reduction.
Yes, best to start taking statins at birth. I'm not kidding, that's what some suggest.
just the way "Doctor" Gregor talks is enough to not eat plants.
I have a doctors appointment today. Sure i wil have to go for blood work.
Don’t studies show it prolongs life by like four whole days??
Can arteriosclerosis be cured or reduced?
Yep if you alleviate the underlying cause then the body is able to heal.
The Mayo Clinic website asks if patient has been treated for SBP. What is SBP?
Sore Bottom Pancakes
Ha ha! I imagine we could come up with a lot of funny responses. @@MisterNumber6
From nbci website: Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) is a term used to describe acute infection of ascites, an abnormal accumulation of fluid in the abdomen without a distinct or identifiable source of infection.
@@jobrown8146 Yes, I saw that definition when I Googled SBP, but I do not understand why a risk questionnaire about statins would ask about spontaneous bacterial peritonitis. I think it must be something else, related to blood pressure perhaps?
Its systolic blood pressure. The top number of your BP
The Primary Prevention dilemma persists for many, myself included.
I stopped my Statin after 30 years with FEW side-effects EXCEPT HgA1C reached 6.4.
Now after several years observing low-carb + 50# wt loss HgA1C=5.2. (HDL=65 TRIG=67)
However APO-B quite elevated. I remain ambivalent.
"I remain ambivalent"
• ua-cam.com/video/fO4FmqbE5Vk/v-deo.html
• ua-cam.com/video/pl7t5-tWMG0/v-deo.html
I wonder what the triglycerides were.
Much appreciated!
need the link in the description, plz
*Statin Choice Decision Aid*
statindecisionaid
Thanks so much for the video and breakdown!
very timely for me.
What about Zetia instead of a statin? I tried 3 different types and had terrible side effects.
Wouldn't thisbecome all much clearer if we replaced cholesterol with an apoB in the analysis? Continuing a dialog about cholesterol should be obsolete.
Unfortunately CAD is silent for many and deadly.
What I find ludicrous is that most of these mainstream doctors first inclination is to go to drugs first, and food last to deal with medical issues. Their either benefiting financially from it or are ignorant. Either way it's not a good thing. Poor diet likely got you to the crisis, so to improve your diet is the best remedy, unless you need meds immediately to save your life.
That’s there job, you present with symptoms a,b & c they give your drugs x,y & z.
I agree. I love NutritionFacts BUT he's given me pause another time regarding Stevia. He conflates people getting hungrier and stuffing their faces gaining the same weight, even if it doesn't raise insulin. I commented that so many other times he insists on the studies and that a trial be controlled. He does point out that you can do it the very same with Diet, BUT what is totally left out is that because of the Statin you may live longer and not even know your own name from the memory loss it causes often! A Vegetable with low cholesterol.
You can't add a person's risk by year. If you could, the researchers would have done that already.
It just does not make any sense to take drugs for years or decades when you could just eat proper food. That’s it simple!
Proper food helps, but doesnt always make enough of a difference.
I'm on a daily dose of 20mg Atorvastatin, I'm not entirely sure if it's purely high cholesterol
or if there are some other risk factors. I tried to raise the issue with my doctor
he simply said, "They're keeping you alive, come off them if you want", End of conversation.
My grandfather died from a stroke and my father from heart failure aged 72 but how is it established
that MY risk is higher? Was it simply by asking me?
My granfather was a chain-smoker and consumed a lot of alcohol my father had similar habits but not
as heavily as my grandfather, maybe that was the problem for them rather than some genetic thing.
I don't have atherosclerosis, (or if I do, no one told me) I don't smoke but do drink moderately.
I take regular excersise and eat well. I'm currently successfully using intermittent fasting
to lose some weight and attending a pre-diabetic course.
I'm 68, how can I find out if I really need to be taking a statin?
Get a cardiac calcium score.
An observed statistical association between a risk factor and a disease does not infer a causal relationship. Literally, everything has a risk factor for heart disease. Including your show size. It's simple math. But most Americans didn't do well in math. Not even in middle school.
It’s blaming the fire on the firemen.
Well these days you do get junk gas with ethanol mixed in
Would like to hear explanations of how statins work. What do they do? What effect can I expect? Rehashing risk/benefit statistics does not help me to know whether a statin might help me or not.
There is no benefit.
They are HMG-Coa inhibitors, google rosuvastatin mechanism of action. Then google side effects. We are taught we much check liver enzymes on patients who take statins because they could harm the liver.
@@I.identify.as.a and they've told nothing to my husband about that at all and they just put him on all this garbage medicine, they aren't checking any kind of liver enzymes or anything. The doctor says she wishes she could put them in the water supply and that they prevent dementia.
Absolute quacks running the show, I trust 0.01% of doctors.
But Dr. Westman,
what if you know you have CAD, have stents but after the fact drastically changed your lifestyle and diet, including eating so low carb/keto for years now, to the point of being off two diabetes meds, insulin and now have A1c 4.8 and are down 140 lbs from your highest weight?
I should still take a statin as a secondary prevention?
Even at the risk of weight gain, brain side effects and loss of regained insulin sensitivity?
This is exasperating. 😔
He is making a typical mistake, well known in statistics (statinstics?): if you throw a coin you get heads 50% at a time, quite simple, yes? Now, if you throw a coin 99 times and you lose every single time (playing heads) what is your chance to have heads at the 100th time? well, it's 50%, he and so many people, I dare say most get this wrong. This means that your chance from 1% is always a 1%.
Bart Kay: “Risk is a cause and effect statement.”
Dr Westman is too soft on Michael Greger’s nonsense. Greger has only done pseudoscience, not science.
Dr. Westman kills his enemies arguments gently.
@@mytwopennorth7216 not sure what you mean, but clearly Dr Westman couldn’t even argue that stupid “1% annual relative risk decrease” Greger nonsense. Greger nonsense is making a big giant straw man, a imaginary example, the statistics is definitely wrong, although I’m not stat major, I definitely have the sick gut feeling, you definitely can’t add/subtract %risk in such way in any case, and statin is not something harmless, it’s a metabolic poison in the most literal form, a direct attack on human metabolism. Not only that, risk is a cause and effect statement, statistics can’t and mustn’t give definitive conclusions. Greger’s anything can only come from statistical data, which can only provide insight, or guess, and need real actual controlled experiments to establish cause and effect relationship. Dr Westman didn’t see any of these nonsense.
Impressed by Einsfeld today. He is considering all the science that proves keto as no better for weight loss than any diet, such as Gardener's Diet fits and the works of Kevin Hall. That's the way you advance science. Not by denial & defence. It's as Taubes said--easiest person to fool is yourself. Einsfeld is moving forward, not digging in. I await the algorithm!! ( An hermeneutical for hunger & satiety
💕💕I have diagnosed atherosclerosis of the aorta and had a stroke. I was put on a statin and a baby aspirin 6 years ago. Am I safe and should I stay on it? Or would you say I don’t need it if I don’t want yo take it? Not sure if I’m ok not taking it. I’d love to get rid of meds instead of keep adding more.
Statins deplete coQ10 which can cause weak muscles and of course the heart is muscle. Dr Ken Berry has a video on drugs that deplete coQ10. If you continue taking the statin you might consider supplementing.
Probably a good idea to get a cac scan.
I think one real take away here is that treating without confirmation of the disease is ludicrous. Who would even take Tylenol or antibiotics just because. Not any informed person.
People die in car accidents so driving does entail some risk. If someone told me I shouldn't drive and that would lower my risk of dying in a car accident I would laugh. My dr wants me on statins because of the risk of a heart attack. On what basis? I am 82 years old. I said i didn't think that my age alone warranted taking statins. He then said also because of my high LDL. What? I have not had a prior heart attack or stroke. My LDL is 86. My total cholestrol is 162. My triglyceride level is 64 and HDL is 162. In addition on my own I had ApoB levels tested and its 81. I am losing weight (only about 20 pounds overweight) on low carb/intermittent fasting. So on one hand I am a bit fearful of not following my dr's recommendations and on the other hand I am enraged that my dr sounds more like a religious fundamentalist than a scientist. He isn't interested in discussing the matter further.
Are you a fan of longevity science?
What was that website again to calculate your risk??
Mayo Clinic Stain decision aid
And keep in mind the Mayo Clinic is strongly anti-low-carb, so a lot of their stuff could be biased or even deliberately misleading.
How did humans manage to evolve and live before statins? Why wasn’t coronary disease and atherosclerosis prevalent before the 20th century? It would appear our “modern diet” and more sedentary lifestyles are more likely root causes.
Our ancestors would have eaten a species appropriate diet and avoided chronic activation of the randle cycle.
The scatter gun approach with statins actually diminishes their value. There are people who would really benefit from them, but they are not properly identified. Meanwhile those who don't need them, have side effects.
If one's diet is causing metabolic syndrome, then that is the biggest risk factor and should be addressed. Most don't even know how effective diet is because doctors don't bring it up. The statement should be, "we are prescribing this drug because of your bad diet" with this statement repeated every visit. Keto and whole food plant based diets should be offered as options. Getting people off junk food is very important.
My blood pressure was creeping up and I was just starting medication (I ate relatively healthy) . It was my biggest risk factor and I was concerned. If it wasn't for my brother trying keto and resolving blood pressure issues, I would never have known that I could fix this with diet. Now my blood pressure has never been better and I am off medication. I'm kinda angry I wasn't told.
His name is pronounced "Not-Dr. Greger".
I wish there were more science than medical marketing. The comments made to support statins were very much skewed and based on assumptions rather than raw data. Appalling!
"If you're treating the cholesterol to lower the risk of atherosclerosis in the coronary arteries ..."
The thing is that it's not cholesterol that *causes* any of these things. So treating cholesterol won't do a dang thing. You need to treat the root causes - for most people diet (carbs, processed food/seed oils, glucose spikes, not fat or red meat), for some smoking and pollution, for others stress is a massive factor.
Statins are a great money maker, but not a great life saver or even life improver.
What they're really good at is causing lots of unpleasant side effects (including insulin resistance/diabetes and dementia for some of them). Oh, and raising CAC scores, they're also good at that.
Dr. Diamond's contention is that the very minor benefit you do see from statins is due to their side effects - which includes some anti-inflammatory and anti-clotting properties, not due to any reduction of cholesterol.
While i eat my animal fat i will never take a statin
just found out that your nephew has different views than you (Dr. Westman) on statins :(
Just to show how false Greger is, as usual. When the NHANES data is investigated by statin status the longest lived people in this cohort were directly proportional to how high their LDL was, indicating that either a) the reduction is a problem or b) the group claiming to take statins were not taking them and thus lived much longer
By by
Diet & walk , not that one , the right & wrong walk ! your bones will be happy with veggies & they won't hurt you or sit on you , & feeds everyone in there , y i a vegetarian 🐟
Dr. Einsfeld (diet doctor) may be on to something. It's obvious Some folks don't have satiety signals . Telling them to eat to satiety is outright ridiculous!! That advice might work for normal folk who need to lose only a few lbs in their later years.
That only explains why some people plateau early on a keto diet. Keto is not a weight loss diet. Keto works whether one loses weight or not.
@@rawmilkmike yeah you're right. I mean it's good for blood sugar, but it's not particularly good for weight loss. There's nothing in place for weight loss. So IF a person loses it weight w it, it's probably bc they ate a lot of junk...imo
Funny with so much disagreement in the medical community that the community retains its hubris. No blushing brides there. All the arrogance all the time.