First up, an apology, in Wednesday’s letter I said Akira Endo had his cholesterol check up in 2024, this was a typo, he actually had it in 2004.
Last week I experienced a disappointment, I decided to get a full medical checkup – as is advised for people of my age every 5 years.
Last time I went into the GP’s surgery was pre-Covid!
As you can expect from someone who writes a natural health newsletter, I look after myself fairly well – but I’ve never pretended to be a clean-living guru.
I’ve admitted to you before that I struggle to control weight at times, and I’m constantly keeping an eye on my compulsive food-and-drink urges!
So it’s not like I waltz into these tests assuming I’m 100% fighting fit.
Anyway, my results all came back very quickly.
And it was good reading – blood pressure normal, AC1 test okay, vitamin D and Vitamin B12 levels within range…
Until I got to cholesterol.
Serum cholesterol was ‘above normal range’ while my HDL cholesterol and triglycerides were all normal.
It was disappointing, but it wasn’t too bad really.
I recalled something I wrote in this very newsletter last year about a cholesterol researcher in the USA who stated the following…
“People who are not overweight, have low blood sugar, exercise and are on a low-carb diet typically have optimal triglycerides and HDL, and sometimes they have high LDL.
“Our findings show that the people who have this healthy combination of diet and lifestyle, as well as high LDL, showed no benefit from taking a statin.”
So I left the medical centre thinking that I’d make sure I try and cut down on some of my excesses (namely, cheese, mayonnaise and delicious craft beer, all of which I probably consume too much of.
Then, within minutes, came the text that I’m sure many readers have received…
“Your recent blood test show your cholesterol is high. This increases the risk of developing heart disease or strokes in the future. This risk is assessed using QRrisk and your risk is 10.2%. Above 10% a statin is recommended.”
Unbelievable.
I realise that I’ve written about this many times before, but it’s so exasperating to be on the receiving end of it, finally.
Why Was I Instantly Recommended a Statin?
Surely, the first recommendation for someone with raised cholesterol who isn’t in immediate danger and who doesn’t have any other serious conditions should be dietary!?
I mean I was only 0.2% over the threshold they deem to be in the ‘risky’ zone.
A gnat’s whisker in the red!
And as a Manchester University study found in 2019, this is by far from an exact scientific record of my real heart disease risk.
They revealed that for a QRisk predicted score of 10%, “an individual patient could have a risk of between 7.2% and 13.7%, depending which practice they came from.”
So maybe I only had a 7% or 8% risk?
For someone who is on the borderline like that, I’d first expect a second opinion or another text before taking that score as gospel and getting stuck into the pharmaceuticals.
What’s more, surely it would be in my interests to first be recommended a process of dietary changed, accompanied by more exercise!
Luckily, I have knowledge on my side.
I know that the QRisk is not 100% accurate, and it’s a estimate of eventual heart disease risk 10 years down the line.
I know that you can have slightly raised LDL and still be on a healthy diet.
And I know that should things start to get out of control, there are supplements in our very own Good Life Letter shop like Bergamet, which I can use a first resort, as this acts like a statin without the side effects.
But there will be people out there who DON’T know this.
They’ll read ‘10% heart disease risk’ with alarm, and immediately book themselves in to get a statin prescription.
I completely understand why this is happening…
All Down to Money
Firstly, it’s a moneymaker for the pharmaceutical corporations.
But I think it goes deeper than that.
As one of my friends who works for the NHS told me, it’s really about the medical establishment trying to avert the astronomical expenses of health care facing this country (indeed, the whole of the Global North).
Because as a nation we are – to quote the cult film Withnail & I – “Drifting into the arena of the unwell”.
Last year, it was reported that there have been nearly 100,000 more deaths involving heart conditions and stroke than usual in England since the pandemic, while the British Heart Foundation warned of an “urgent cardiovascular disease crisis”.
What we need in order to avert this is a radical change to how we eat, how food is produced and marketed, and how we live in the 21st century.
But that’s not happening – and certainly not at any rate that will make a difference.
So instead, a panicked establishment is playing a numbers game – mass prescribing statins to reduce the onslaught people needing urgent treatment.
This might even work, statistically…
That is, if you view society as not much more than a herd of cattle.
But on an individual level, if you only have slightly raised LDL, you don’t want to be on statins – you want to instead have a naturally healthy life and diet if at all possible.
That should be what we all choose before we go onto drugs that can cause all kinds of problem with mood, digestion, muscle pain and sleep.
Really, that should be what people are at least OFFERED – shouldn’t we all get a chance to address the problem first before being shoved onto medication?
That seems to me the ethical option.
It’s what I am going to do anyway!
