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01-22-2015, 11:47 AM
Eating nuts may be better for you than taking statins: Doctors warn that simply changing their diet may be better for some patients than taking drugs
Experts suggest patients should be told about healthy diet of nuts and oil
They believe nuts, olive oil and apples can help lower harmful fats in blood
Suggest that they can give similar benefits to cholesterol-lowering drugs
By JENNY HOPE FOR THE DAILY MAIL
PUBLISHED: 23:27 EST, 19 January 2015 | UPDATED: 23:28 EST, 19 January 2015
People at low risk of heart disease are getting the ‘illusion of protection’ from statins when they may be better off eating more nuts and olive oil, claim three leading doctors.
Patients should be told a healthy diet can give similar benefits to taking cholesterol-lowering drugs, they say.
In an editorial, the doctors argue that ‘blanket prescribing’ of statins could increase the harm from side effects, while providing little benefit to patients newly-eligible for them.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/01/20/00D426D11000044C-0-image-m-22_1421727328621.jpg
Tree nuts such as almonds, hazelnuts, pecans, pine nuts, pistachios, and walnuts contain high levels of ‘good’ fats that can lower harmful fats in the blood and can give similar benefits to cholesterol-lowering drugs
‘Statins should not offer the illusion of protection that will enable many individuals to engage in unhealthy lifestyle behaviours’ says the editorial in Prescriber, the UK’s leading journal focusing on prescribing in medicines management.
‘Indeed 80 per cent of cardiovascular disease is attributable to lifestyle factors including an unhealthy diet, smoking and lack of physical activity.
‘For those individuals at low risk it is clear that the benefits of statins are modest at best’ it says.
Alternatives to statins for those at low risk in effectively preventing heart attacks and strokes include eating an apple a day, a handful of nuts or four table spoons of extra virgin olive oil daily.
Tree nuts such as almonds, hazelnuts, pecans, some pine nuts, pistachios, and walnuts contain high levels of ‘good’ fats that can lower harmful fats in the bloodstream.
The editorial’s authors are cardiologists Dr Aseem Malhotra and Dr Andrew Apps, with Simon Capewell, professor of clinical epidemiology and vice president elect of the faculty of public health.
They question recommendations to the NHS made last year which make as many as four in 10 adults eligible for statins.
Effectively every healthy man over 60, and healthy woman over 65 could be offered drugs to cut their cholesterol levels.
Those with high cholesterol, smokers, the obese or with a strong family history of heart problems could be offered the drugs at an even younger age.
Those supporting the guidance from Nice (the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) said the drugs were cheap, getting cheaper, and thousands of lives would be saved.
But a furore erupted, with some arguing the new approach was medicalising the prevention of heart disease when unhealthy lifestyles were often to blame.
Figures suggest as many as eight million Britons are on statins, at an estimated annual cost of £450 million.
Doctors used to prescribe statins only to those with a 30 per cent risk of a heart attack within the next decade, but this was cut to 20 per cent risk in 2005.
The bar was lowered further last year so those who have a 10 per cent or greater 10-year risk can be offered statins, including people over 85 years old.
A recent survey by the doctors’ newspaper Pulse found two thirds of GPs were rejecting the guidance.
The British Medical Association said it had no confidence in it because there was ‘insufficient evidence’ of overall benefit to low risk patients.
US experts last year warned that people on statins could be using them as an excuse to ‘put butter on their steaks’.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/01/20/1D093D4400000578-0-image-a-29_1421727386809.jpg
Another alternative to taking statins, for those at low risk, is to take four tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil daily, according to experts
A study research found patients on statins eat more fat and calories, and gain weight faster, than people not taking them, possibly because they offer ‘false reassurance’.
Although trial data shows a big reduction in death rates for patients at high risk given statins after a heart attack, the advantages are less clear cut for those who are at low risk, says Dr Malhotra, consultant clinical associate to the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges.
Independent research found no overall reduction in death or serious illness for those at lowest risk on statins but a 1 in 140 chance of avoiding a non-fatal heart attack set against a similar small risk of developing type 2 diabetes from taking the drug.
Dr Malhotra said ‘For those individuals at low risk it is clear that the benefits of statins are modest at best.
‘They should not offer the illusion of protection that will enable many individuals to continue to engage in unhealthy lifestyle behaviours.’
He said the blanket prescription of statins to those at low risk of heart disease should be replaced by ‘patient-centred information’ which would allow people to make more informed decisions.
At present scaremongering is too common, with exaggeration of the benefits of statins or risks of coming off them despite disabling side effects.
The editorial says randomised control trials (to subs keep all three words) may seriously underestimate side effects such as muscle pain.
At least 17 per cent of patients had an adverse effect in a large uncontrolled observational study (to subs keep all four words), it says.
Even Pfizer’s own patient leaflet on Lipitor ( Atorvastatin) cites ‘common side effects that may occur in up to 1 in 10 patients include ‘sore throat, nausea, digestive problems, muscle and joint pain, and increase in blood sugar levels’, says the editorial.
Although most symptoms are reversed when patients stop taking the drugs, a risk of up to one per cent of type 2 diabetes now directly attributed to statins should ‘not be dismissed lightly’.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2917742/Eating-nuts-better-taking-statins-Doctors-warn-simply-changing-diet-better-patients-taking-drugs.html#ixzz3PYOxixK6
Experts suggest patients should be told about healthy diet of nuts and oil
They believe nuts, olive oil and apples can help lower harmful fats in blood
Suggest that they can give similar benefits to cholesterol-lowering drugs
By JENNY HOPE FOR THE DAILY MAIL
PUBLISHED: 23:27 EST, 19 January 2015 | UPDATED: 23:28 EST, 19 January 2015
People at low risk of heart disease are getting the ‘illusion of protection’ from statins when they may be better off eating more nuts and olive oil, claim three leading doctors.
Patients should be told a healthy diet can give similar benefits to taking cholesterol-lowering drugs, they say.
In an editorial, the doctors argue that ‘blanket prescribing’ of statins could increase the harm from side effects, while providing little benefit to patients newly-eligible for them.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/01/20/00D426D11000044C-0-image-m-22_1421727328621.jpg
Tree nuts such as almonds, hazelnuts, pecans, pine nuts, pistachios, and walnuts contain high levels of ‘good’ fats that can lower harmful fats in the blood and can give similar benefits to cholesterol-lowering drugs
‘Statins should not offer the illusion of protection that will enable many individuals to engage in unhealthy lifestyle behaviours’ says the editorial in Prescriber, the UK’s leading journal focusing on prescribing in medicines management.
‘Indeed 80 per cent of cardiovascular disease is attributable to lifestyle factors including an unhealthy diet, smoking and lack of physical activity.
‘For those individuals at low risk it is clear that the benefits of statins are modest at best’ it says.
Alternatives to statins for those at low risk in effectively preventing heart attacks and strokes include eating an apple a day, a handful of nuts or four table spoons of extra virgin olive oil daily.
Tree nuts such as almonds, hazelnuts, pecans, some pine nuts, pistachios, and walnuts contain high levels of ‘good’ fats that can lower harmful fats in the bloodstream.
The editorial’s authors are cardiologists Dr Aseem Malhotra and Dr Andrew Apps, with Simon Capewell, professor of clinical epidemiology and vice president elect of the faculty of public health.
They question recommendations to the NHS made last year which make as many as four in 10 adults eligible for statins.
Effectively every healthy man over 60, and healthy woman over 65 could be offered drugs to cut their cholesterol levels.
Those with high cholesterol, smokers, the obese or with a strong family history of heart problems could be offered the drugs at an even younger age.
Those supporting the guidance from Nice (the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) said the drugs were cheap, getting cheaper, and thousands of lives would be saved.
But a furore erupted, with some arguing the new approach was medicalising the prevention of heart disease when unhealthy lifestyles were often to blame.
Figures suggest as many as eight million Britons are on statins, at an estimated annual cost of £450 million.
Doctors used to prescribe statins only to those with a 30 per cent risk of a heart attack within the next decade, but this was cut to 20 per cent risk in 2005.
The bar was lowered further last year so those who have a 10 per cent or greater 10-year risk can be offered statins, including people over 85 years old.
A recent survey by the doctors’ newspaper Pulse found two thirds of GPs were rejecting the guidance.
The British Medical Association said it had no confidence in it because there was ‘insufficient evidence’ of overall benefit to low risk patients.
US experts last year warned that people on statins could be using them as an excuse to ‘put butter on their steaks’.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/01/20/1D093D4400000578-0-image-a-29_1421727386809.jpg
Another alternative to taking statins, for those at low risk, is to take four tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil daily, according to experts
A study research found patients on statins eat more fat and calories, and gain weight faster, than people not taking them, possibly because they offer ‘false reassurance’.
Although trial data shows a big reduction in death rates for patients at high risk given statins after a heart attack, the advantages are less clear cut for those who are at low risk, says Dr Malhotra, consultant clinical associate to the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges.
Independent research found no overall reduction in death or serious illness for those at lowest risk on statins but a 1 in 140 chance of avoiding a non-fatal heart attack set against a similar small risk of developing type 2 diabetes from taking the drug.
Dr Malhotra said ‘For those individuals at low risk it is clear that the benefits of statins are modest at best.
‘They should not offer the illusion of protection that will enable many individuals to continue to engage in unhealthy lifestyle behaviours.’
He said the blanket prescription of statins to those at low risk of heart disease should be replaced by ‘patient-centred information’ which would allow people to make more informed decisions.
At present scaremongering is too common, with exaggeration of the benefits of statins or risks of coming off them despite disabling side effects.
The editorial says randomised control trials (to subs keep all three words) may seriously underestimate side effects such as muscle pain.
At least 17 per cent of patients had an adverse effect in a large uncontrolled observational study (to subs keep all four words), it says.
Even Pfizer’s own patient leaflet on Lipitor ( Atorvastatin) cites ‘common side effects that may occur in up to 1 in 10 patients include ‘sore throat, nausea, digestive problems, muscle and joint pain, and increase in blood sugar levels’, says the editorial.
Although most symptoms are reversed when patients stop taking the drugs, a risk of up to one per cent of type 2 diabetes now directly attributed to statins should ‘not be dismissed lightly’.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2917742/Eating-nuts-better-taking-statins-Doctors-warn-simply-changing-diet-better-patients-taking-drugs.html#ixzz3PYOxixK6