Lancet Pushes Statin Drugs for All Diabetics, Regardless of Heart Condition

Tuesday, August 05, 2008 by: David Gutierrez, staff writer
Tags: statin drugs, health news, Natural News

(NaturalNews) Writing in the influential British medical journal Lancet, researchers from Oxford University have recommended that all diabetics receive cholesterol-lowering statin drugs, even if they do not have any symptoms of cardiovascular disease.

The recommendation is based on meta-analysis of 14 former studies that included a total of 90,000 participants, 19,000 of them with diabetes. The researchers found that regardless of whether they showed symptoms of heart disease or not, diabetic patients who received statins experienced fewer major cardiovascular events, including heart attacks and strokes, than those who did not receive the drugs. The benefit appeared to be independent of age or sex.

For every 1,000 diabetics who received statins, 42 fewer had experienced heart difficulties five years later. According to the researchers, this translated into a significantly reduced risk of death.

According to conventional medicine, diabetes is considered a "risk factor" for cardiovascular disease, with a diabetic person having a 20 percent chance of developing heart-related problems within 10 years.

According to Diabetes U.K., approximately 60 percent of diabetes patients already receive statins. That leaves a huge population that should be receiving the drugs and could benefit them, the researchers said. The only diabetics who should not take statins, they recommended, are those at exceptionally low risk of heart disease or those who cannot take statins for some reason, such as pregnancy.

What researchers have failed to state, however, is that both diabetes and cardiovascular disease can be reversed with simple changes in diet, requiring no pharmaceuticals at all. "Diabetes can be cured in a matter of just a few weeks by switching to a diet of unprocessed, plant-based foods," explains Mike Adams, author of "How to Halt Diabetes in 25 Days." Like many people in the natural health industry, Adams cured his own prediabetes condition using foods and nutrients.

This reality is not yet acknowledged in the United States, but Douglas Smallwood, the chief executive of Diabetes U.K., seem to at least partially agree. He says, "Diabetes U.K. strongly recommends that good diabetes management should rely not only on medication, but also on a healthy lifestyle and diet."