Pushing statins and blood pressure drugs at diabetics is NOT protective....

Today's post, Monday, 3-15-2010

This story is big enough that it made today’s San Jose Mercury in the Silicon Valley and probably many of the nation's larger newspapers -- and two of the online health services.

Here’s one of the summaries.

“Intense Cholesterol, Blood Pressure Therapies Don't Help Type 2 Diabetics

HealthDay Monday, 3-15-2010

SUNDAY, March 14 (HealthDay News) -- Two sets of results from a large U.S. government-sponsored trials find that neither aggressive treatment of cholesterol nor of blood pressure lowers the risk of heart events in people with type 2 diabetes.”

Here’s another:

“Studies: Intense treatment doesn't help diabetics AP Sun Mar 14, 2010 ATLANTA

Key results from a landmark federal study are in, and the results are disappointing for diabetics: Adding drugs to drive blood pressure and blood-fats lower than current targets did not prevent heart problems, and in some cases caused harmful side effects.”

This research shows that pushing statins and blood pressure drugs to diabetics is NOT protective for their hearts.

It suggests that only making the lifestyle changes that reverse the insulin resistance and which improve the other things is protective.

The only positive result found was that diabetics who actually HAD high blood pressure did get some protection from strokes.

And, in addition to these drugs NOT reducing heart attack risk, many of the people DID get side effects from the drugs which were sometimes severe, particularly from the blood pressure drugs.

I’d be willing to bet BIG dollars that their data likely also show this is particularly true for people with HBA1C levels below 7.0 and desirable readings on blood pressure and their blood lipids before they took the drugs.

I know someone who was diagnosed as diabetic who was in that range and who already had very desirable blood pressure readings and nearly as desirable readings on HDL and LDL cholesterol and triglycerides. She was also doing far more than most to make the lifestyle changes that help reverse insulin resistance.

Believe it or not, this person was cold called by a clerk in the PHARMACY department of her HMO demanding to know why she wasn't taking a statin and the ACE inhibitor some guideline for full fledged diabetics then recommended.

Her doctor was a bit less dense & only suggested that maybe it was OK for now to pass, since her readings were in the desirable range already.

I'm so relieved that this study will put a screeching halt to this total nonsense now that the guidelines it was based on appear to be thoroughly discredited.

What lifestyle changes might actually be protective?

The ones that we've been posting on for many months if not years.

Exercise right and eat right and consider some of the supplements that do help reverse insulin resistance or prevent deaths from heart disease.

A. Exercise right

1. Try to get in walking or comparable moderate exercise for at least a few 10 minute sessions each week if you can.

2. Do at least a short session of some kind of vigorous interval cardio for very short intervals that you stop or slow down between at least 3 nonconsecutive days each week.

3. Do at least two strength training sessions 2 nonconsecutive days each week where you very gradually build up to more weight.

Diabetics and people not quite diabetic with blood sugar readings that are too high who do these kinds of exercises will see considerable drops in their blood sugar shortly after they do them AND, if they do this much exercise for 3 months, their
HBA1C that measures their average blood sugar over the last 60 to 90 days will also go down.

Such exercise is so effective because it tends to turn off insulin resistance. Or put another way, insulin resistance, diabetes, and all the damaging diseases diabetics get are symptoms of NOT getting the regular exercise that hundreds of thousands of years of evolution have optimized our bodies for.

B. Eat a version that fits your tastes best of a DASH II diet or a Mediterranean diet that:

HAS plentiful organic vegetables or even conventionally grown ones;
a bit less whole fruit--mostly the most nutritious or low glycemic kind;
some health OK protein such as eggs, nuts, beans and lentils, wild caught fish only, and either occasionally and very, very lean grain fed poultry and even less red meat -- or, better, only poulty or meat from animals fed ONLY their natural diet -- exclusively pasture-fed poultry and from animals fed only grass;
some health OK oils such as omega 3 oils from wild caught fish or pure supplements and monosaturated oils from extra virgin olive oil, nuts, and avocados;
and some but not a lot of 100% whole grain foods.

And, has ZERO:
Hydrogenated oils, high omega 6 oils such as soy, corn, canola, and safflower, high fructose corn syrup, artificial sweeteners, or soft drinks.

And has close to zero foods made from refined grains, rice, potatoes, and sugar, on at least on 5 or 6 of 7 days a week and not very much on the days these things are eaten. It also helps to ONLY eat them together with better food to balance their bad effects.

And, has some, but very little salt and NEVER has huge amounts of it.

The same reasons apply, the foods on this list are those that hundreds of thousands of years of evolution have optimized our bodies for and the foods to avoid are those that are harmful to health for the reason that over that time, they were rarely if ever eaten.

Expecting good health by eating the things listed here to avoid and NOT eating the foods are bodies expect to be fed, makes about as much sense as trying to run a car on prune juice poured into the window instead of providing its engine with fuel or electricity.

It's guaranteed to make a mess instead of providing power. And, there's very ample evidence it does just that.

C. Some supplements seem protective due to actually improving the body's ability to process sugars or process fats.

Of the supplements that lower blood sugar in this way, chromium polynicotinate and alpha lipoic acid seem to do this for sure. But there are at least 8 other supplements that may do so. But it's essential do add those to the lifestyle upgrades rather than hoping the supplements alone will protect you.

And, of the supplements that lower bad blood lipids and increase HDL, the Berkeley
Heart Lab found that niacin works far better than drugs for almost everyone. And, if niacin, or perhaps inositol hexaniacinate, is taken properly, it's the only such intervention that has been shown to significantly lower the death rate or increase the longevity of the people taking it.