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Source: Iowa State University News Service

Statins Linked to Lower Intelligence, Memory Problems, Nightmares, Depression and Suicide

Could statins, the cholesterol-lowering drugs taken by more than 60 million Americans and now being recommended for use in children as young as 8 years old, be doing more harm than good to millions of patients?

This is the rather alarming suggestion to emerge from numerous new studies on the extensive, dangerous and wide ranging side effects of statin drugs.

Recent research has already shown that statin drugs interfere with the body's production of CoQ10, arguably our most important essential nutrient: responsible for energy production, produced naturally in the body and found in every cell. In addition to its critically important role in energy production, CoQ10 has a possibly even greater role within the mitochondria as an anti-oxidant, with a free radical-quenching ability some 50 times greater than that of vitamin E.

We also know from recent research that 22 percent of those who used a statin report musculoskeletal pain including: muscle aches, pain, weakness and cramps.

But multiple new studies now link statins to lower intelligence, memory problems, nightmares, depression, and even suicide.

Yeon-Kyun Shin, a biophysics professor in the department of biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology at Iowa State University, says the results of his study show that drugs that inhibit the liver from making cholesterol may also keep the brain from making cholesterol, which is vital to efficient brain function.

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.

This new research challenges the medical convention that lowering your cholesterol is always a good thing.

“If you deprive cholesterol from the brain, then you directly affect how smart you are and how well you remember things,” says Yeon-Kyun Shin, the biophysics professor behind the study. “This may lead to depression and irrational acts and even raise the risk of suicide.” He believes this is directly caused by disruption in the neurotransmitter release in the brain.

Cholesterol is one of the building blocks of cells and is made in the liver. Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) - often referred to as bad cholesterol - is cholesterol in the bloodstream from the liver on the way to cells in the body. High-density lipoprotein (HDL) - so-called good cholesterol - is cholesterol being removed from cells lining the blood vessels. Too much LDL going to cells and not enough being removed can lead to cholesterol deposits and hardening of the arteries.

“If you have too much cholesterol, your internal machinery is not going to be able to take away enough cholesterol from the cells,” said Shin. “Then cells harden and you can get these deposits. But if you try to lower the cholesterol by taking medicine that is attacking the machinery of cholesterol synthesis in the liver, that medicine goes to the brain too. And then it reduces the synthesis of cholesterol which is necessary in the brain,” said Shin.

In his experiments, Shin tested the activity of the neurotransmitter-release machinery from brain cells without cholesterol present and measured how well the machinery functioned. He then included cholesterol in the system and again measured the protein function. Cholesterol increased protein function by five times.

“Our study shows there is a direct link between cholesterol and the neurotransmitter release,” said Shin. “And we know exactly the molecular mechanics of what happens in the cells. Cholesterol changes the shape of the protein to stimulate thinking and memory.”

Shin's findings reinforce another new study, which found that men with a combination of low cholesterol and depression are seven times more likely to die prematurely from suicide, accidents and other unnatural causes than men with only depression.

Scientists who followed nearly 4,500 Vietnam veterans over a 15-year period say the disturbing findings may be due to low blood cholesterol reducing levels of the brain's feel-good chemical messenger, serotonin.

Low serotonin is linked to depression, anger, sleep loss and other problems, says Dr Joseph Boscarino, of the American Geisinger research institute, who did the research.

'While it's generally understood that having low cholesterol is a good health sign, combined with other factors, it could actually put a person at risk,' says the report.

In fact, there is a significant body of evidence to show that low cholesterol may be as dangerous as high cholesterol.

These reputable studies show how people with markedly low levels of cholesterol are more likely to die from a variety of causes, including strokes, certain cancers, liver disease, lung disease and suicide.

The deaths from these other causes mount so quickly that the mortality rate for those with low cholesterol equals the rate for people with very high cholesterol.

Another report claims that women on low-cholesterol diets may face infertility problems.

This small study of 300 patients by the Toronto Infertility Clinic says that cholesterol is essential for creating the sex hormones oestrogen and testosterone.

Other U.S. research found that women with low cholesterol could be twice as likely to suffer from depression or anxiety problems.

Even more worrying, studies of older people have found that those on low- cholesterol diets have a much higher rate of stroke, possibly because cholesterol has a protective effect in mature brain linings.

But the link between low cholesterol, decreased serotonin and dangerous behavior is particularly strong and disturbing. A study of 80,000 Swedes, for example, shows that men who murder in a fit of rage tend to have below-average cholesterol.

All of this information reinforces the basic tenet on which the profession of chiropractic was founded and continues to operate today: Regular, low cost, low risk interventions such as regular exercise, proper nutrition, chiropractic care to keep your nerve system functioning properly and stress reduction (applied consistently throughout life) allow you to avoid high risk interventions such as drugs, radiation and surgery, except in emergencies.

See your chiropractor today to find out how chiropractic care can help you begin to extricate yourself from the cycle of dependence on dangerous patent drugs.