Statins were introduced to reduce high LDL colesterol levels and help patients recover from heart attack and strokes.  They have been hailed as the latest ‘wonder drug’ and the government is now considering offering statins to ALL men over 50 and women over 60 regardless of cholesterol levels.
New medical research does not question the standard medical advice that people with high blood cholesterol should diet or take statins.
However, the research does question the level at which the drugs are prescribed. As with many of our ‘wonder drugs’, are they now being dangerously overused? We have already witnessed this culture with antibiotics which have been prescibed so exstensively many people, incuding young children and babies, have been left with compromised immune systems.
While high ‘bad LDL’ cholesterol levels can indeed lead to serious health conditions, latest research also indicates that LOW cholesterol levels should be of equal concern.
Cholesterol is also produced by the brain, where it is used to release vital chemicals called neurotransmitters that carry messages between brain cells. Now a study by Yeon-Kyun Shin, a biophysics professor, a the Iowa State University suggests that statins inhibit this vital process.
When brain cells are deprived of cholesterol, they are five times less effective at releasing chemical messengers, says the research, published in the highly respected journal Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences.
Shin says: ‘If you deprive cholesterol from the brain, then you directly affect how smart you are and how well you remember things. This may lead to depression and irrational acts.’ He believes this is directly caused by disruption in the neurotransmitter release in the brain.
As with any drug that may cause side effects, it surely is important that statins are used only for a specific purpose i.e. for people with very high bad cholesterol levels, and not as a ‘cure all wonder drug.’