Here is a list of six things to consider doing instead of taking a statin. Each of these individual interventions ha been shown to provide greater benefits than statin medications. Just image what can be achieved if all of these are combined.
Exercise
We all know that exercise strengthens the cardiovascular system and protects us from heart disease. In fact, general fitness is strongly associated with protection from dying of all causes. People with the lowest capacity for exercise have 4.5 times the risk of dying when compared with people who have the greatest capacity for exercise.
Exercise does not have to take place in a gym. Any kind of physical movement that increases the heart rate is likely to be beneficial. Health authorities recommend at least thirty minutes of movement or exercise on as many days during the week as possible.
Exercise is also very beneficial for people with diabetes and for the prevention of diabetes, because exercise increases insulin sensitivity (insulin resistance is the hallmark of diabetes). Exercise also helps to reduce visceral fat. This should be a source of encouragement for people who struggle to lose weight when exercising. The harmful visceral fat could still be reducing even if the number on the scale does not change very much. Waist circumference is a better indicator than a bathroom scale.
Drink more water
In 2002, researchers published a study that investigated the amount of water consumed each day and the number of heart disease deaths.
The study included around 20,000 men and women between the ages of 38 and 100, who were followed for 6 years. The researchers found a strong correlation between increased water consumption and a reduction in heart disease deaths. On average, the people drinking five or more glasses of water per day had about half the risk of dying of heart disease compared with people who drank two glasses or less per day. The association remained the same even after eliminating a wide range of other factors such as age, smoking status, high blood pressure, body mass index, education level, and estrogen replacement therapy in menopausal women.
Coq10 supplement
Some of the most dramatic results were found in a Swedish study published in 2013 that included 440 people aged 70-88 who were split into two groups; one group received a placebo, while the other group received supplemental selenium and CoQ10. After five years, those in the placebo group had a cardiovascular death rate of 12.6 percent, while those in the group who received selenium and CoQ10 had a cardiovascular death rate of 5.9 percent. This dramatic reduction in cardiovascular mortality is considerably greater than any reduction ever seen in any statin clinical trial.
Vitamin C supplement
Vitamin C is used to make collagen - which lines all of the blood vessels.
In 2004, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published an analysis of nine studies that included information on intakes of vitamin E, carotenoids, and vitamin C. The most significant finding was that people who took 700 mg or more of supplemental vitamin C had significantly fewer heart attacks.
Relaxation and meditation
A study published in the journal Circulation in 2012 investigated the use of transcendental meditation for people with heart disease. Participants were split into two groups; one group completed twenty minutes of meditation twice every day, while the other, dubbed the “health education group”, was instructed to spend the same amount of time doing other health-promoting activities such as preparing healthy meals, exercising, or nonspecific relaxation.
After five years of follow-up, 31 percent of the people in the health education group had either had a heart attack or stroke, or died, compared with 20 percent of those in the meditation group, representing an absolute risk reduction of 11 percent associated with meditation, above the benefits associated with more common health-promoting activities.
Not taking a statin
In the studies that have been most supportive of statins, the reduction in heart attack deaths has typically been between 1% and 3%. However, the side effects of the medication are experienced by around 20% of people. And these side effects include an increase in the amount of calcified plaque. Overall, almost everyone will be better off not taking a statin, than taking a statin.
From: STATIN NATION:The Ill-Founded War on Cholesterol, What Really Causes Heart Disease, and the Truth About the Most Overprescribed Drugs in the World
References:
Myers J, Prakash M, Froelicher V, Do D, Partington S, Atwood JE. Exercise capacity and mortality among men referred for exercise testing. N Engl J Med. 2002;346(11):793–801.
Chan J, Knutsen SF, Blix GG, Lee JW, Fraser GE. Water, other uids, and fatal coronary heart dis- ease: the Adventist Health Study. Am J Epidemiol. 2002;155(9):827–833
Knekt P, Ritz J, Pereira MA, et al. Antioxidant vitamins and coronary heart disease risk: a pooled analysis of 9 cohorts. Am J Clin Nutr. 2004;80(6):1508–1520.
Alehagen U, Johansson P, Bj rnstedt M, Rosén A, Dahlstr m U. Cardiovascular mortality and N-terminal proBNP reduced after combined selenium and CoQ10 supplementation: a 5-year prospective randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial among elderly Swedish citizens. Int J Cardiol. 2013;167(5):1860–1866
Schneider RH, Grim CE, Rainforth MV, et al. Stress reduction in the secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease: randomized, controlled trial of transcendental meditation and health educa- tion in blacks. Circ Cardiovasc Qual Outcomes. 2012;5(6):750–758. doi:10.1161/CIRCOUTCOMES.112.967406.