Interpreting JUPITER: Statins for Everyone?

Reader Comments
Back to blog

Very nice site!

alexe965 of AL 5:31PM July 15, 2010

Thanks, Dr. Healy, for your critical look at Jupiter. I had a heart attack at age 59 despite being an extreme athlete and spending years watching my diet. A book called Heart Failure by Thomas J. Moore gave me some doubt about the cholesterol hypothesis, doubt that was reinforced by the writings of Uffe Ravnskov, M.D.
After searching www.pubmed.gov, I concluded that heart disease was caused by infections, especially Chlamydophila pneumoniae (CPN)infections. CRP, which is so prominent in the Jupiter study, is an excellent marker for CPN infections.
Later I found evidence that CPN and other microbes interact with cortisol to cause obesity and diabetes. Cortisol also raises Cholesterol levels.
More recently I read The Great Cholesterol Con by Malcolm Kendrick, M.D. Kendrick's terrific book skewers the cholesterol hypothesis over and over.
Per Marin, M.D., and I wrote a book about infections and cortisol. It is described at www.potbellysyndrome.com.
Thanks again for casting a doubtful eye on Dr. Ridker's dubious study. Russell Farris

Russell Farris of CA 11:50AM May 03, 2009

This study was supposed to last five years. It was stopped, after less than two.Why stop the study so soon? Could it be, they were afraid of finding more negative side effects. I want to see impartial studies done, like the one by the Women's Health Initiative regarding Hormone Replacement Therapy. That resulted in all the facts finally coming to light. Do we really think the studies financed by big pharmaceutical companies are going to tell the whole story? Every time I'm told to go on a statin drug I have a tendency to dig my heels in, and refuse. I know I'm not being made aware of all the dangers of these drugs. What will it take to get an impartial study done? This is a huge money maker that provides in excess of $34 Billion dollars a year. I can understand the reluctance of the drug companies to do any study that would stop a steady income of this magnitude.

M Gallo of NY 12:42PM February 23, 2009

Ever wonder why and how the current cholesterol levels were established. They were quite simply adjusted downwards by edict in response to complaints by the white coats conducting trials for statin efficacy some thirty years ago because they couldn''t find enough people over the age of 50 with levels over 240 mg/dl (6.2 mmol/l), the then norm for that age bracket, to sufficiently power their trial studies. So the medical cartel to the glee of Big Pharma arbitrarily, by fiat, declared that 200 (5.2 mmol/l) should be the norm for everybody. See.........http://tinyurl.com/2nylpn... Of course this resulted in providing participants galore for cholesterol studies and statin therapy for practically the whole of the nation. And we have been stuck with these artificial levels ever since with the alarming result that our drinking water is now laced with it. Whatever ones cholesterol level is within 2 standard deviations of the then 6.2 mmol/l is what is normal for one and shouldn't be tampered with. The cholesterol hypothesis is the mother of all scams for cholesterol at any level is not a cause of heart disease. See...http://tinyurl.com/36tz6j...
CRP? Because statins are useless at preventing one's premature demise the statin mongers are now shifting the gobbling of same to some ostensible benefit as an anti inflamatory.

Oigen 11:19AM November 27, 2008

Dr.Healy, I want to thank you and the few other medical professionals who have the courage to speak out and give us non medical folks the real truth about studies like JUPITER. We the public have been mislead for decades into believing that cholesterol-lowering drugs are our solution to heart disease which is a big fat LIE. Its time that everyone knows that the disease of high cholesterol was invented so that the drug companies could push statins on us in order to make billions of dollars per year at the expense of patients who end up taking the drug for life and suffering from its poisonous side effects. All doctors who push statins should be REQUIRED to provide the ABSOLUTE RISK values for taking or not taking the drug to their patients and let their patients decide if they want to take them. Doctors should also be required to let the patient know about ALL the side effects and how costly its going to be for the patient's health insurance company to buy the drug every year for life and how costly its going to be for the patient to keep coming back for doctor visits to check if the stains are ruining the liver and to complain about all the side effects. All of those doctor visits add up to a lot of money to be made by the physician and that should be FULLY DISCLOSED to their patients so that the patient knows how much he/she is being RIPPED OFF by the medical system.

Josephine Keliipio of HI 2:44PM November 22, 2008

we should visit nursing homes and see the devestation caused by strokes, heart disease and the loved ones who continue to exist in various vegetative states robbed of their lives and costly to our financially strapped society.If statins can reduce this tragedy i am in favor of recommending the drug for everyone 50 and older

keith watson of OH 9:24PM November 17, 2008

One of the side effects of Crestor can be severe muscle pain, leading to much difficulty in walking. This was experienced by my wife, until 2 weeks after she stopped taking it.

Richard Anerson of VA 12:03PM November 11, 2008