Yet Another Drug Study Shows Lowering LDL Does Not Affect Clogging of Arteries

The proposition that lowering LDL with drugs will protect you against developing clogged arteries just took another body blow.

We already saw that lowering LDL with Zetia and Vytorin did not lead to any improvement in the thickening in artery walls, and may, in fact, have actually worsened it in the case of Vytorin.

Now a 5 year study of fenofibrate, another drug that lowers LDL dramatically, has found the same thing. People who took it saw their LDL decline, but their arterial walls continued to thicken.

You can read about the presentation that described this finding in a report on HERE It was published in Diabetes in Control.

It's time to face the fact that the only reason doctors believe that lowering LDL is protective against heart disease is that the statin manufacturers sold their drugs for years on that premise.

But subsequent research is showing that the only reason that the statins seem to slightly lower the incidence of heart attack in middle aged men with pre-existing heart disease is because they fight inflammation. Studies reveal that statins do not prevent heart disease in women nor in men not already diagnosed with heart disease.

So as study after study finds that lowering LDL has no effect on how clogged arteries get, it is starting to look very clear that lowering your LDL is not going to prevent arterial thickening.

This is an issue of major concern to people with abnormal blood sugar now that we have learned that statins increase insulin resistance. There is also accumulating evidence that statins may promote cancer in older people. You can find the research cites that back up those findings that by visiting my web page about Dangerous Drugs for People with Diabetes.

So if these drugs won't prevent artery clogging, what will? Well, if you have been reading this blog for a while, you probably know my answer:

1. Maintain normal blood sugar levels.

2. Achieve normal blood sugars using the strategies that minimize the amount of insulin in your system. Insulin is a growth hormone and too much of it may grow the lining of your arteries.

3. The best way to do this is to cut back on your carb intake until you are getting normal blood sugars after meals. Avoid drugs like glyburide, amaryl, Prandin, and Starlix that lower blood sugar stimulating insulin production and use instead metformin which lowers blood sugar by decreasing insulin resistance.

Another study published in this week's Diabetes in Control newsletter found that metformin had a much more positive effect on the cardiovascular system than did Prandin even when blood sugars achieved were the same.