In This Week’s Weekly Health Tip – Dr Jocelin talks about the importance of Maintaining a Healthy Heart Rhythm and after making sure it is not a medical emergency, what are some supplements you can use to increase heart health and support a healthy heart rhythm.
Cactus Grandiflorus – https://www.whitakersnaturalmarket.com/product/cactus-grandiflorus-1-oz/ Magnesium/Potassium – https://www.whitakersnaturalmarket.com/product/magnesium-potassium-60-ct/
With over 25 percent of American adults over age 40 currently taking statin drugs to lower cholesterol, it’s clear to see that these medications are capable of yielding astronomical profits for Big Pharma. In 2019 alone, for example, Lipitor (atorvastatin) generated a stunning $2 billion dollars in revenue for its manufacturer, Pfizer.
While statin medications are lavishly endorsed and prescribed by Western medicine, natural health experts have long cautioned of toxic side effects – and clinical research exists to back them up. Let’s take a look at ten unwanted adverse effects from statin drugs, along with some nutrients that can help manage cholesterol naturally.
Cholesterol: Villain or hero?
Most conventionally-trained physicians believe that a specific type of cholesterol known as LDL is a primary risk factor for heart disease, the leading cause of mortality in the United States. Statin drugs – which include fluvastatin, simvastatin, and pravastatin – are touted as lowering LDL cholesterol while raising levels of beneficial HDL cholesterol.
Undeniably, these medications can lower cholesterol drastically. But, at what price to the body?
Research has shown that cholesterol is essential to the proper functioning of cells – and is also converted into vital hormones such as estrogen and testosterone. An increasing number of integrative doctors maintain that LDL cholesterol is actually necessary for body function – and that heart disease is really triggered by unaddressed infections, a lack of physical activity, and, of course, a poor diet of processed foods and toxins.
In addition, too little cholesterol, they note, can be just as harmful as too much!
In fact, an eye-opening 2005 study from Columbia University found that people with the very lowest total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol levels were twice as likely to die within three years, compared to those with the highest levels.
Statin-induced muscle stress causes muscle pain, weakness, and fatigue
Muscle and joint pain are among the most common adverse effects reported by statin users. Sharp cramps, a nagging, aching sensation, persistent tenderness, muscle fatigue, and even tendonitis are all on the “menu” of possible effects.
Disturbingly, experts say that these adverse effects of statin drugs may be only partially reversible.
These muscle problems can progress to myositis (an inflammation of the muscles) and, in severe cases, to rhabdomyolysis -a potentially fatal condition that can cause severe inflammation, muscle damage, muscle cell death, and kidney failure.
Keep in mind, reports clearly indicate that statin drugs can cause toxic stress on the mitochondria, the “energy power stations” in the cells – thereby inhibiting the birth of new mitochondria. In addition, statin drugs can worsen symptoms of other muscle disorders such as myasthenia gravis and muscular dystrophy.
Double whammy: Statin drugs may promote muscle injury while reducing mitochondria after exercise
One of the physical benefits of exercise is to raise the quantity and function of the mitochondria. But statin use seems to cause mitochondria to decrease with exercise – meaning these drugs not only negate an important benefit of exercise, but actually reverse it.
And, being in optimal physical condition seems to offer no protection. Marathon runners and elite athletes have higher levels of muscle injury with statins compared to those not taking statins.
One study even showed that animals that exercised on statins had an astonishing 226 percent more muscle damage than those not receiving statins – a troubling finding by any standards.
Health ALERT: Statin drug “therapy” increases risk of type 2 diabetes
Statin drugs increase insulin in the blood, which can trigger insulin resistance and set the stage for type 2 diabetes. In a 2014 meta-analysis of 137,000 patients published in the British Medical Journal, researchers found a “moderately increased” risk of new-onset diabetes in patients given higher potency statins after cardiovascular events or procedures.
In the face of this powerful evidence, the FDA has been forced to acknowledge that statins can occasionally cause diabetes.
Warning: “Brain fog” ahead! Statin drugs can cause memory loss, impaired concentration, and mood changes
Not only can statin drugs cause pain and muscle damage, but they can harm something that is arguably even more important – our memories and cognitive abilities. In various studies, statin drugs have been associated with forgetfulness, impaired concentration, and diminished ability to remember words.
They can also cause disturbances in mood.
In 2008, Beatrice Golomb, M.D., Ph.D. – Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of California San Diego – conducted a $5 million dollar statin drug study funded by the NIH. Dr. Golomb notes that a substantial 30 percent of statin drug users report experiencing mood changes including anxiety, irritability, and depression.
Statin drugs can promote obesity
Although the mechanism is unclear, statin drugs seem to lead to overeating and weight gain.
One 12-year study published in JAMA Internal Medicine showed that statin users increased their calorie intake by 9 percent, their fat consumption by 14.1 percent, and their body mass index measurement by a hefty 1.3 – when compared to non-statin users.
It should be noted: two thirds of American adults are currently overweight or obese – a primary risk factor for heart disease.
Statins are associated with heightened cancer risk
In an extensive review of studies published in BMC Cancer, the authors reported that prolonged use of statins was associated with significantly increased risk of colorectal, bladder, and lung cancers.
And, the bad news just keeps on coming.
Medical authorities warn: Watch for liver inflammation and injury
Statin drugs raise the liver’s production of enzymes, which can cause liver damage and inflammation. In fact, the Mayo Clinic specifically warns statin users to be vigilant for signs of liver damage, such as jaundice (yellowing of the skin), dark-colored urine, and fatigue.
This is common sense, everything we consume must be filtered (processed) through the liver. Unfortunately, many people have no idea that they are harming their liver health.
Statins contribute to atherosclerosis
Ironically, there is some evidence that statin drugs may damage the very arteries they are supposed to protect!
In a study of 6,673 subjects published in Atherosclerosis, researchers found that statin drugs increased amounts of dangerous calcified plaque in coronary arteries – thereby raising risk of coronary heart disease.
Statin therapy causes nerve damage
Statin use is associated with higher incidence of nerve degeneration and pain.
Caution: Drugs for high cholesterol can reduce levels of antioxidants and essential nutrients
Finally, statin drugs can interfere with the production of disease-fighting molecules like glutathione – an important antioxidant that is strongly correlated with health and even longevity.
They also impair production of CoQ10, a vitamin-like antioxidant compound vital for heart health, normal blood pressure, and muscle function.
Statin drugs are also associated with reduced blood levels of alpha-tocopherol (a natural form of vitamin E) and beta-carotene, an antioxidant natural plant pigment.
Support heart health with natural supplements and proper diet
Many natural health practitioners strongly endorse CoQ10 supplementation for those taking statin drugs. Integrative healthcare providers may advise typical dosages of 100 mg to 300 mg a day, but (as always) check first with your own Naturopathic doctor.
For maximum benefit, your practitioner may advise combining CoQ10 with vitamin E and L-carnitine.
In addition, curcumin from turmeric – a potent antioxidant that helps muscle fiber repair – and creatine, a compound needed to build muscle, can also help support mitochondrial activity. You can boost dietary levels of creatine by eating grass-fed beef, wild-caught salmon, and cage-free organic chicken.
And, don’t forget the importance of proper nutrition for managing cholesterol levels.
Harvard Medical School advises avoiding trans fats, refined sugars, simple carbs, and alcohol – along with eating healthy amounts of oatmeal, beans, eggplant, okra, nuts, cold-water fatty fish, and pectin-rich fruits such as apples and strawberries.
Clearly, statin drugs come with a lot of harmful “baggage.” While you should never reduce or eliminate prescribed medications unless advised to do so by your physician, it might be time for you and your doctor to take a second look at statin drugs – and have an honest talk with your doctor about the risk to your health.
Stop in and see us at Whitaker’s Natural Market, pick up your heart healthy supplements, and schedule a consult with Dr Jocelin on how to improve your overall health!
Portions of this health tip are from NaturalHealth365.
Did you know that selenium, an essential mineral, has the ability to protect your health in multiple ways?
Selenium is an important mineral for your body and only a small amount is needed (the recommended daily intake is 55 micrograms (mcg). Due to poor soil, taking certain pharmaceutical drugs such as statins, and the normal aging process, selenium is one of the most common mineral deficiencies in the world.
Selenium is linked to many healthy outcomes, including protection from diseases and reduction of disease symptoms.
Six Top Benefits of Selenium
1. Antioxidant and Reduces Oxidative Stress
As an antioxidant, selenium is even more beneficial than vitamins A, C, D, and E and helps to decrease oxidative stress, which is the result of an imbalance in the body between free radicals and antioxidants.
Oxidative stress contributes to a variety of diseases such as diabetes, atherosclerosis (hardening of the blood vessels), inflammatory conditions, high blood pressure, heart disease, neurodegenerative diseases (such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s), and cancers, and contributes to aging.
Supplementing with selenium was reviewed in 13 studies showing significant impact on three antioxidant markers, thus reducing oxidative stress.
2. Boosts Skin Health
In a meta-analysis of 27 studies with a total of 1,315 patients and 7,181 healthy controls, selenium levels were found to be low in patients with four skin diseases: psoriasis, acne vulgaris, chloric acne, and atopic dermatitis.
Another research study of DNA reprogramming of inflammatory cells confirms that higher selenium levels may instill protective properties for genes important for psoriasis prevention and treatment.
Selenium was also found to be beneficial in the treatment of psoriasis in a systematic review of research. In addition, selenium has been related to improvements in skin aging (skin elasticity and skin roughness).
Blood glutathione peroxidase (low levels indicate increased damage to cell membranes due to accumulation of free radicals and signify low selenium levels) was measured in 61 healthy subjects and 506 patients with various skin disorders (i.e., psoriasis, eczema, atopic dermatitis, vasculitis, mycosis fungoides and dermatitis herpetiformis, pemphigoid, acne conglobata, polymyositis, rheumatoid arthritis, scleroderma, and systemic lupus erythematodes) and supplementation with selenium and vitamin E restored the skin’s balance.
3. Benefits Asthma
Asthma (a condition with breathing difficulties, coughing, and sneezing) is a complicated disease to treat and is associated with increased inflammation, oxidative stress, and abnormal immune system function. In a meta-analysis of 40 studies, asthma patients showed significantly lower levels of selenium compared to healthy subjects, suggesting lower selenium intake could be a risk factor for the disease.
As mentioned, selenium, as an antioxidant, has been found to lower oxidative stress. This, in turn, seems to reduce allergic asthma. In addition, dietary selenium as an antioxidant therapy may be important in optimizing asthma treatment and prevention.
In a study of 25 asthmatic patients and 25 healthy subjects, asthmatics had lower concentrations of selenium, increased oxidative stress markers and inflammation, and decreased antioxidant glutathione peroxidase activity and lung function.
Nutritional supplement therapy including selenium balanced oxidant stress, inflammation and immune system responses, pulmonary function, and health-related quality of life in patients with mild to moderate allergic asthma.
4. Helps Prevent and Improve Thyroid Diseases
Selenium is an essential micronutrient for your body and readily found in the thyroid. As a supplement, it can help prevent immune-mediated thyroid disorders by reducing anti-thyroperoxidase antibody levels and improving thyroid ultrasound features.
The prevalence of pathological thyroid conditions (hypothyroidism, subclinical hypothyroidism, autoimmune thyroiditis, enlarged thyroid) was significantly lower in the adequate-selenium group than in the low-selenium group (18% versus 30.5%) in a sample of 6,152 subjects in China.
Selenium administration (200 milligrams per day) significantly improved quality of life, reduced ocular involvement, and slowed progression of 159 patients with mild Graves’ orbitopathy (also called thyroid eye disease).
5. Promotes Heart Health
The combination of high blood pressure, high blood sugar, obesity, and high cholesterol is called metabolic syndrome and when these conditions occur together, they dramatically increase your risk of heart disease, stroke, and Type 2 diabetes.
In a study of 2,069 patients, dietary selenium intake had a moderate negative association with metabolic syndrome. In a study of 501 British volunteers aged 60 to 74 years, supplementation with selenium (100 mcg, 200 mcg, 300 mcg) showed progressive decreases in total cholesterol profiles for those with low selenium levels, but cautions that those with already high selenium intake might be adversely affected by extra selenium supplementation.
In a 12-year follow-up of a group of healthy elderly participants who were supplemented with selenium and coenzyme Q10 for four years, there was a significantly reduced risk for cardiovascular mortality in the treatment group (28.1%) compared to the placebo group (38.7%).
6. Brain Boosting
Alzheimer’s disease, a devastating brain disorder, is characterized by two pathological protein deposits, the senile plaques of amyloid-β and tangles of protein tau. In addition, oxidative stress and neural signal transmission disorders also impact Alzheimer’s.
A large body of studies suggests that selenium (Se), either as Se-containing compounds or as selenoproteins, is involved in most of the molecular pathways that are important in the progression of dementia and therefore have the potential to help prevent or improve Alzheimer’s.
In a mouse model, selenium yeast showed several benefits for Alzheimer’s subjects; it decreased the generation of amyloid-β and enhanced autophagic clearance (old cells are recycled and cleaned out to make room for new cells in the brain), which reduced the burden of amyloid-β accumulation.
Another animal study confirmed that selenium (sodium selenite) significantly decreased tau-positive neurons and reversed Alzheimer’s-like memory and neuropsychiatric symptoms in mice with advanced dementia. Additionally, selenium induced protective effects against experimental dementia-induced brain inflammation and oxidative stress by enhancing the antioxidant system in rats.
In 79 Alzheimer’s patients, probiotic and selenium co-supplementation for 12 weeks improved cognitive function and some metabolic profiles such as lipid, antioxidant, and insulin levels. Selenium and zinc are essential trace elements and an inadequate dietary intake has been implicated in the decline of immune and cognitive functions in aged persons and influences age-related disorders, such as Alzheimer’s and Type 2 diabetes.
Selenium and Health
Selenium, a widely researched essential mineral, is beneficial to your health due to its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective, immunomodulatory (regulates immune functions) and cardioprotective properties.
Be sure to pick up your Selenium Supplement on your next visit to Whitaker’s Natural Market!
Portions of this Health Tip are from GreenMedInfo.
For Heart Health Month, I want to highlight one of my favorite Heart Supplements!
Clinical OPC® Heart provides ingredients in their most effective bio-available forms, for excellent absorption and cardiovascular benefits:
Be sure to check out Clinical OPC Heart as well as all of our other heart support supplements on your next visit to Whitaker’s Natural Market. Bonus – they are on sale this month for American Heart Month!
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently reported that fully one third of the American population is prediabetic, with elevated blood sugar (glucose) levels that can – if untreated – lead to full-blown type 2 diabetes. Diabetes, which currently affects over 30 million Americans, causes the risk of heart disease to skyrocket – and can feature serious complications such as nerve damage, kidney disease, and retinal damage.
Now, a brand-new Australian study shows that vitamin C can lower elevated blood glucose in type 2 diabetics, helping to control dangerous after-meal surges and “spikes.”
The misunderstood health benefits of vitamin C
Vitamin C, or ascorbic acid, is a potent natural antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and immune system booster. Thankfully, a handful of forward-thinking doctors – early vitamin C pioneers such as Dr. Frederick Klenner, Linus Pauling, Dr. Mathias Rath, and Thomas E. Levy, MD, JD – have long spoken out about the ability of vitamin C to treat, and even reverse, a host of serious conditions.
In the 1940s, Dr. Klenner reported curing a variety of diseases, including polio and hepatitis, with high-dose vitamin C – while in the present day, Dr. Paul Marik, Professor of Medicine of Eastern Virginia Medical School, administers a vitamin C protocol that drastically improves survival rates for patients suffering from sepsis, a life-threatening systemic infection.
But the therapeutic value of this non-toxic, inexpensive natural nutrient has been consistently downplayed by the medical powers-that-be. Time and again, the mainstream medical community seems to have greeted even the most impressive vitamin C studies with indifference, suspicion, and even scorn.
Fortunately, well-designed scientific studies on vitamin C’s benefit are accumulating – as manifested by this latest study, conducted by an international team of researchers and published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.
Study: Vitamin C can reduce blood sugar spikes by a substantial 36 percent
In a double-blind, placebo-controlled study published in 2019 in Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism, adult participants with type 2 diabetes were randomly divided into two groups. One group took 1,000 mg of ascorbic acid in divided doses every day for four months, while the other group received a placebo.
Participants were given standardized meals, and their glucose levels were monitored continuously for 48 hours. The results were clear-cut.
The vitamin C group experienced significantly lower after-meal blood sugar levels – reducing by roughly three hours the time spent every day in hyperglycemia – a state of elevated blood glucose.
Why is this important?
Research has shown that blood sugar “spikes” damage cells in multiple ways, and are linked to heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, peripheral neuropathy, kidney failure, cognitive dysfunction, and retinal damage.
Clearly, the less time spent in hyperglycemia – the better. However, better glucose control wasn’t the only benefit for the participants in the vitamin C group.
The ascorbic acid also lowered elevated blood pressure – a primary risk factor for heart disease.
The team reported that participants’ blood pressure readings dropped by an average of 7 mmHg in the systolic number (which measures the pressure exerted by heartbeats) and by 5 mmHg in the diastolic (which measures the pressure in between beats).
Incidentally, the vitamin C group also experienced a significant lessening of disease-promoting oxidative stress. The researchers concluded that the study provided evidence for use of vitamin C as an adjunct therapy to improve control of blood sugar and blood pressure in people with type 2 diabetes.
In one study, which was published in Journal of the American College of Nutrition, researchers evaluated the daily vitamin C intake of 108 men. They found that men in the group with the highest levels of vitamin C intake had a 66 percent less chance of developing coronary heart disease – the number one killer in the United States – than men in the lowest-intake group. In other words, men who consumed higher levels of vitamin C were two-thirds more likely to avoid developing heart disease.
Researchers believe that this beneficial effect is due to vitamin C’s ability to prevent and alleviate endothelial dysfunction – the stiffening of arterial walls that interferes with the healthy flow of oxygen-rich blood.
And, in a 2003 observational study conducted by researchers at Harvard Medical School and published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 85,000 female nurses were followed for 16 years. Women who took supplemental vitamin C reduced their risk of heart disease by a hefty 28 percent.
Researchers credit vitamin C with improving electrical conduction throughout the heart muscle, reducing inflammation, and decreasing clotting factors – which contribute to stroke risk. Vitamin C also appears to help protect against two other heart problems: atrial fibrillation – a type of irregular heartbeat – and dilated cardiomyopathy, a harmful enlargement and weakening of the heart.
How much vitamin C do I need a day?
According to natural health experts, the current vitamin C RDAs advised by the Office of Dietary Supplements are good for a laugh – and not much else.
Vitamin C proponents note that the ODS recommendations – a paltry 75 to 90 mg of vitamin C a day – are enough to prevent the severe form of vitamin C deficiency known as scurvy, but not enough to maintain optimal health or combat disease.
Knowledgeable integrative and functional doctors usually advise taking anywhere from 1,000 to 6,000 mg of vitamin C a day, in divided doses – with even higher levels recommended for serious chronic conditions.
As the studies suggest, daily supplementation with inexpensive, non-toxic vitamin C can provide major protective dividends to the heart – while helping to regulate blood sugar levels. Clearly, having optimal levels of this essential micronutrient is a “win/win” scenario.
Be sure to check out our vast selection of Vitamin C supplements at Whitaker’s Natural Market on your next visit!
Coenzyme Q10, or CoQ10, is a substance found in every cell of our body. It is in a variety of foods, and healthy people are not likely to develop a deficiency of this nutrient. But, you might want to think about taking in some extra CoQ10 – especially if you’re taking a statin to lower your cholesterol levels.
CoQ10 has many potential health benefits, including possibly lowering the risk of certain cancers. Women, especially, should take note, since recent research points to links between breast cancer risk and lower levels of CoQ10 in the blood.
Clearing up the confusion about CoQ10
Coenzyme Q10 is technically not a vitamin because your body can synthesize it, so you do not need to get it from food. However, its structure is similar to that of vitamins. Also like vitamins, it acts as a coenzyme functions in your body’s metabolic reactions.
CoQ10 also has powerful antioxidant properties. For example, it helps prevent harmful oxidation of LDL cholesterol, and it supplements the work of vitamin E, or tocopherol. When your blood levels of CoQ10 are lower, your body needs more vitamin E from the diet to carry out heart-healthy antioxidant reactions.
What are the health benefits associated with CoQ10?
Can a Coenzyme Q10 deficiency increase the risk of cancer?
Since the 1960s, researchers have noted associations between lower blood levels of CoQ10 and cancer. People with lymphoma, myeloma, and lung, head, neck, and prostate cancers tend to have lower levels of CoQ10.
A recent study looking into links between CoQ10 and breast cancer examined data from nearly 1,000 women aged 40 to 70 in the Shanghai Women’s Health Study. Those who had serum levels of CoQ10 in the bottom fifth of participants had a 90 percent greater chance of being diagnosed with breast cancer than those whose levels were in the middle fifth.
“The current Shanghai Women’s Health Study, with relatively larger sample size and longer follow-up time suggests an inverse association for plasma CoQ10 levels with breast cancer risk in Chinese women,” according to study authors Robert V. Cooney of the University of Hawaii and colleagues. Based on these results, future research should investigate potential effects of supplementation on the risk of breast cancer.
The study also confirmed the association between low CoQ10 and higher risk of cervical cancer, myeloma, and melanoma. This makes the results relevant to men as well as women. This study is far from definitive, but it seems likely that there is a link between healthy CoQ10 levels and reduction in cancer risk.
CoQ10 is in a variety of foods, including meat, fish, and eggs, and organ meats, such as heart, kidney, and liver, are especially rich sources. You can also find CoQ10 in plant-based foods, such as cauliflower, peanuts, and strawberries. Remember, you can obtain additional benefits, with ease, by supplementing your diet with a high quality CoQ10 supplement.
Be sure to check out our selection of CoQ10 rich foods and CoQ10 Supplements at Whitaker’s Natural Market on your next visit!
A series of recent studies have caused the powers that be in the medical community to suddenly look with disfavor on the use of daily, low-dose aspirin for preventing heart disease.
Millions and millions and millions of people around the world have been taking daily, low-dose aspirin for decades because the medical community has told them that this will prevent heart attacks and strokes. After all, taking aspirin is easy to do (a whole lot easier than losing weight, exercising, and eating healthy), costs just pennies, and almost every doctor recommends it to their patients – especially their elderly patients. It is thought by the medical community that aspirin’s anti-inflammatory properties help delay the onset or progress of some diseases (especially heart disease) over a long period. In truth, however, this theory has not been proven. In fact, information on the use of aspirin to increase healthy independent lifespans in older persons is quite limited. The bottom line is that whether 5 years of daily low-dose aspirin therapy can extend disability-free life in healthy seniors is unclear.
This question was answered in five studies and one set of guidelines that were released in three devastating blows from September 2018 through March 2019.
First Blow: Aspirin Doesn’t Help, and It Does Increase Gastrointestinal Bleeding
The first blow was the large observational ASPREE Study (Aspirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly), which was initiated in 2010 and involved participants in Australia and the US. It focused on the efficacy and safety of daily, low-dose aspirin in the elderly for the prevention of a range of disabilities, including heart disease, and the results were published last fall in The New England Journal of Medicine.
From 2010 through 2014, participants were enrolled who were 70 years of age or older (or ≥65 years of age among blacks and Hispanics in the United States) and did not have cardiovascular disease, dementia, or physical disability. Participants were randomly assigned to receive 100 mg per day of enteric-coated aspirin or placebo orally. The primary end point was a composite of death, dementia, or persistent physical disability. Secondary end points reported in this article included the individual components of the primary end point and major hemorrhage. A total of 19,114 persons with a median age of 74 years were enrolled, of whom 9,525 were randomly assigned to receive aspirin and 9,589 to receive placebo.
The trial was terminated at a median of 4.7 years of follow-up after a determination was made that participants would receive no benefit with continued aspirin use, at least regarding the primary end point. The rate of the composite of death, dementia, or persistent physical disability was 21.5 events per 1,000 person-years in the aspirin group and a slightly – albeit statistically insignificant – lower figure of 21.2 per 1,000 person-years in the placebo group. Additionally, differences between the aspirin group and the placebo group once again favored the placebo group – at a statistically insignificant level – with regard to the secondary individual end points of death from any cause (12.7 events per 1,000 person-years in the aspirin group and 11.1 events per 1,000 person-years in the placebo group). But more statistically significant and shocking was the fact that the rate of major hemorrhage was 36% higher in the aspirin group than in the placebo group (3.8% vs. 2.8%).
To put it in simple terms, the study’s conclusion stated:
“Aspirin use in healthy elderly persons did not prolong disability-free survival over a period of 5 years but led to a higher rate of major hemorrhage than placebo.”
Second Blow: Aspirin Does Not Reduce Mortality and It Profoundly Increases Major Bleeding Events
The second mortal blow to the use of low-dose aspirin came on January 22, 2019, when the Journal of the American Medical Association published the results of a study that found that taking aspirin on a regular basis to prevent heart attacks and strokes can lead to an increased risk of almost 50% in major bleeding episodes.
The results showed that:
Aspirin use was associated with an 11% lower risk of cardiovascular events. To put this in more easily understandable terms based on the criteria and study participants of 164,225 people, approximately 250 patients needed to be treated with aspirin for 5 years to prevent a single heart attack, stroke, or cardiovascular death.
Aspirin use was associated with a 43% increased risk of major bleeding events, compared to those who did not take it.
Approximately one in 200 people treated with aspirin had a major bleed.
No effect was seen with aspirin on new cancer diagnoses or deaths.
In a University news release, lead author, Dr Sean Zheng, Academic Clinical Fellow in Cardiology at King’s College London said: “This study demonstrates that there is insufficient evidence to recommend routine aspirin use in the prevention of heart attacks, strokes, and cardiovascular deaths in people without cardiovascular disease.
Third Blow: The Coup de Grace.
And then on March 17, 2019, the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association dealt the coup de grace.
The ACC/AHA Task Force on Clinical Practice Guidelines commissioned this guideline to consolidate existing recommendations and various recent scientific statements, expert consensus documents, and clinical practice guidelines into a single guidance document focused on the primary prevention of Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease (ASCVD)–including newly generated, specific recommendations for aspirin use. Those recommendations stated:
Low-dose aspirin (75-100 mg orally daily) MIGHT be considered for the primary prevention of ASCVD among select adults 40 to 70 years of age who are at higher ASCVD risk but not at increased bleeding risk.
Low-dose aspirin (75-100 mg orally daily) should not be administered on a routine basis for the primary prevention of ASCVD among adults >70 years of age.
Low-dose aspirin (75-100 mg orally daily) should not be administered for the primary prevention of ASCVD among adults of any age who are at increased risk of bleeding.
In other words, taking a low-dose aspirin every day to prevent a heart attack or stroke is no longer recommended for most older adults, according to the guidelines. After doctors have almost universally proclaimed for decades that a daily dose of 75 to 100 milligrams of aspirin could prevent cardiovascular problems, while at the same time presenting minimal risk, this represents a startling about face.
The Guidelines went on to state that whereas low-dose aspirin was no longer recommended, lifestyle changes were. Some of the key lifestyle recommendations include engaging in regular exercise (at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity each week); aiming for and maintaining a healthy weight; avoiding tobacco (including vaping or second-hand smoke); and eating healthier.
In a simultaneous statement, also published by the American College of Cardiology, Roger S. Blumenthal, MD, co-chair of the 2019 Guidelines, said, “The most important way to prevent cardiovascular disease … is by adopting heart healthy habits and to do so over one’s lifetime. More than 80 percent of all cardiovascular events are preventable through lifestyle changes, yet we often fall short in terms of implementing these strategies and controlling other risk factors.”
This is exactly what we advocate at Whitaker’s Natural Market – improve your diet and lifestyle, include supporting supplements, and eliminate chemicals and toxins from your home and personal use. So be sure to realize that there are many reasons to improving your diet and lifestyle!
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