Study - statin drugs linked to higher diabetes risk

Thursday, January 12, 2012 by: Elizabeth Walling
Tags: statin drugs, diabetes, risk

(NaturalNews) A new study confirms a dangerous statin drug side effect: diabetes. Researchers at Harvard Medical School report women over the age of 45 are much more likely to develop diabetes if they're taking a statin drug.

The study followed more than 153,000 postmenopausal women who enrolled in the Women's Health Initiative study in the 1990s. At the time they enrolled, none of these women had diabetes. Researchers followed up with the women in 2005, and found that nearly 10 percent of women taking statins developed diabetes, compared to only 6.4 percent in women who did not take statin drugs.

Some experts are calling this a "slight" or "modest" increase. However, crunching the numbers reveals a different result: this is a whopping 50 percent increase in the risk for developing diabetes! Because statin drugs are the darling of the medical community, this risk is being played down. But with millions of Americans taking statin drugs, a 50 percent increase really adds up.

This is hardly the first study to turn up the link between statins and diabetes. In fact, there have been several studies demonstrating the same results. For instance, statins were also shown to increase diabetes risk in a randomized controlled study in 2008. More reports about the connection between diabetes and statin drugs were published in The Lancet in 2010 and yet again in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2011.

Although statins are supposed to be helping our hearts, they may be doing just the opposite. The link between diabetes and heart disease is frighteningly strong. The official website for the American Heart Association says, "Adults with diabetes are two to four times more likely to have heart disease or a stroke than adults without diabetes."

Statins: The scourge of modern medicine?

Unfortunately, diabetes isn't the only serious health problem connected with statins. These drugs have previously been linked to liver damage, kidney failure and cataracts (https://www.naturalnews.com/030317_statin_drugs_liver_damage.html). Statins are also associated with memory loss and depression (https://www.naturalnews.com/032125_statins_memory_loss.html). It's time to start taking these risks seriously and stop glorifying the use of statin drugs.

Sources for this article include:

http://yourlife.usatoday.com/health/medical/diabetes/story/2012-01-09/Study-links-statins-to-higher-diabetes-in-older-women/52470838/1

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/01/10/study-statins-linked-with-diabetes-risk/

http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/Diabetes/WhyDiabetesMatters/Cardiovascular-Disease-Diabetes_UCM_313865_Article.jsp

About the author:
Elizabeth Walling is a freelance writer specializing in health, nutrition and wellness. She is a strong believer in natural living as a way to improve health and prevent modern disease. She enjoys thinking outside of the box and challenging common myths about health and wellness. You can visit her blog to learn more:
www.livingthenourishedlife.com