Fitness Blog

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This Daily Mall article sounds a very discordant note by indicating that some researchers feel that there may be a link between the widely prescribed and very effective cholesterol fighting drugs called statins and Parkinson’s disease.  If true, this would be a major bombshell in the medical community because statins are now felt to be one the most significant pharma advances of the last century.  Statins lower cholesterol and fight heart disease and strokes.

 

The study found that people with very low LDL (low density lypo-proteins) are three times more likely to develop Parkinson’s.  Statins directly lower LDL (also called “bad” cholesterol.)

 

According to the article, most medical experts feel that it is entirely too early to draw any conclusions from this study and that statins are proven life savers whose should not be discontinued based on this very preliminary study.

 

See our earlier post on the same subject, based on a NYT article here.

 

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In a HealthDay article via Forbes, Dr. David L. Katz, an associate professor of public health and director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale University School of Medicine reports on the side effects of weight loss drugs like sibutramine (Meridia), orlistat (Xenical) and rimonabant (Acomplia).

 

Dr Katz does not feel that obesity is likely to be solved by pharma.

 

Here are his extremely insightful words as quoted in the article:  “Obesity is less about the body doing anything wrong than it is about an environment that is all wrong for our bodies.  We are adapted to survive in a world where calories are scarce and physical activity demands high. To use pharmacotherapy to fight obesity, we are, in essence, hoping to redirect the fundamental activities of human metabolism. I don't think we'll ever succeed in doing so, without dire cost in toxicity and side effects."

 

Articulately and concisely Dr. Katz has stated the reality.  And it’s a reality that Americans really don’t want to hear in my opinion.  Americans like the quick fix, and there is no quick fix to the obesity tsunami.  Diet and exercise, diet and exercise are true solutions, not pharma.

In a surprise finding, this NYT article reports that a new study may have found a link between low levels of LDL cholesterol and Parkinson’s disease.  LDL is so the so called “bad” cholesterol and a low reading is normally considered a benefit that leads to a lower risk of heart disease.  So it’s somewhat counter intuitive that this study would indicate a link between low LDL and Parkinson’s. 

 

The study indicted that those in the lowest 25 percentile of LDL had a two to three and a half times greater risk factor for Parkinson’s.

 

According to the article the study could not find a causative relationship between lowered levels of LDL and Parkinson’s.

 

Doctors quoted in the article urged patients not to adjust their diets in light of this new information.

 

This seems to be on of those counter intuitive studies results that needs a lot more study before someone can truly evaluate what it might mean for our national health, if it means anything at all.