Diabetics Should NOT take statins

Today’s post:   Tuesday, 9-13-2016

1.  Incredibly, just a few days ago I saw research that explains why people who take statins often develop diabetes AND why this mitochondrial dysfunction also causes the most serious harm from diabetes such as heart disease and blindness and foot amputation and severe kidney disease.

Because statins deplete ubiquinol, the form of C0Q10 the body uses to keep its mitochondria healthy, taking statins is a known cause of this mitochondrial dysfunction.

So this research shows conclusively that taking statins is totally contraindicated in people who have diabetes!

Here’s the direct quote and online link:

“http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/312704.php

People with diabetes have an excess of glucose in their blood (hyperglycaemia). This leads to the mitochondria, the "power house" of the cell which normally regulates energy production and use inside cells very tightly, becoming inefficient and leaky. They then produce highly toxic metabolites of oxygen (free radicals). The resulting toxicity to the mitochondria in the endothelial cells damages blood vessels in the circulation and the heart. 

This can deprive organs of the blood they need to function, potentially resulting in kidney disease or retinopathy, which cause blindness. Around 1,280 cases of blindness causes by diabetes each year in England alone, with a further 4,200 people identified as at risk of vision loss from this cause. Damaged blood vessels can also contribute to kidney disease, which can affect up to one in three people with diabetes.”

It’s quite clear that making a very strong and focused effort to reverse the causes of the high blood sugar is indicated to prevent this.  This includes losing enough weight to remove fat from the pancreas and enough exercise to reverse insulin resistance and enough reduction in free fructose, excess sucrose, artificial sweeteners, all wheat, and most other grains to remove the cause of the excess blood sugar surges.

And, this research makes very clear also that increasing the amount of ubiquinol that helps prevent this mitochondrial damage is equally important! At worst it is imperative NOT to lower it.

Statins LOWER the blood level of ubiquinol -- which means that this research shows that taking statins is totally contraindicated for all diabetics!

2.  Here’s the truly incredible part!

Just yesterday Yahoo had a feature story from HealthDay News:

“Many With Diabetes Missing Out on Statins    Updated: SEPTEMBER 12, 2016 — 2:00 PM EDT

Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, Sept. 12, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Nearly all middle-aged patients with diabetes should be taking cholesterol-lowering statins, but cardiologists fail to prescribe these medications for 2 out of every 5 diabetics in their care, a new study finds.

Multiple prior studies have shown that diabetics have a lower risk of heart attack and stroke if they take a statin, even those with no history of heart problems, said senior study author Dr. Salim Virani, a cardiologist at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center in Houston.

"That's not debatable at this point," said Virani, who is also an associate professor at Baylor College of Medicine. "They should all be on statins."

But analysis of data from 204 cardiology practices across the United States revealed that 38 percent of middle-aged diabetics have not been prescribed statins.”

Here’s the truly incredible part!

This story ran just days after the research came out showing conclusively that this is not just debatable, it’s flat out wrong and likely to harm the people who it influences to take statins!

3.  Here’s the good news.

People with even slightly high blood sugar and people with diabetes DO need to protect themselves from the heart attack causing effects this has.

Such men have double the risk of heart attack of men without this extra risk.

Such women have FOUR times the risk of heart attack of women without this extra risk.

So, why is that good news?

The SAME set of lifestyle upgrades that turn off this high blood sugar have been shown in several sets of research to prevent heart attacks and deaths from heart attacks far better than statins.  

Even in people who have the heredity to get some good from statins, they slightly reduce nonfatal heart attacks but do not reduce the deaths from heart attacks according to the research I’ve seen.

And, now we know that statins should never be taken by diabetics and why.

A study in the UK found that people who eat 6 servings or more a day of vegetables and one or more of fruit, have a lower death rate from any cause.  Much of that is from the decrease in deaths from heart attacks.  Eating one or more servings of whole fruit cuts the death rate from BOTH kinds of stroke.

Completely removing free fructose, excess sucrose, artificial sweeteners, all wheat, and most other grains from your food and drink is known to remove the cause of the excess blood sugar surges.

But research by Dr William Davis and many others has shown that these same upgrades slash triglyceride and heart disease risk!

Adding wild caught fish and extra virgin olive oil and tree nuts for those not allergic and removing grain oils and minimizing all other fats in the Mediterranean Diet adds to this protection.

So, the doctors who now have zero excuse for prescribing statins to diabetics can decline to prescribe statins AND reduce their patient’s heart attack risk more!

The same lifestyle upgrades it is imperative for diabetics to make to stop the harm of high blood sugar also reduce heart attacks and deaths from heart attacks too!