Silly Rabbit, Statins Are for Kids!

 

I listened incredulously yesterday as the news on the radio announced that the American Academy of Pediatrics is now recommending that powerful cholesterol-reducing drugs (i.e. Lipitor) to be used on kids.

Dr. Ronald Hoffman, prominent NY complementary medicine practitioner/author/radio host/lecturer has this to say about it: "Pediatric statins are the worst idea since those chocolate cigarettes they used to give us as kids." He goes on to say:

"These ham-handed guidelines will ensure that millions of kids are enrolled as lab rats in an experiment of unprecedented proportions.

While statins can help a limited number of older people with demonstrable cardiovascular disease, their use to prevent disease in otherwise healthy individuals is a total EXTRAPOLATION (Translation: a wild leap of faith). They seem to work best in people with high calcium scores or angina, after a heart attack, bypass or stent, and in middle aged men.

NO research shows they work in children, and it would take fifty years of careful study in thousands or even millions of kids to prove they provide one iota of benefit." Read the full article.

I hope that this recommendation will encounter as much resistance as Merck's Gardasil, the pre-pubescent HPV vaccine.

 

All this reminds me of how important Food Matters is. That's the film that the Healthful Living peeps and I are screening on 7/17 at the Randall Museum theater here in SF. One of the things it discusses is the enormous influence of the pharmaceutical industry on regulation and medical practices. Are you coming? I see that some of you signed up. It's sold out but I'm sure we'll have a few seats available at the door. Come early to get on the waiting list. Plans are coming together for a panel discussion with some docs and nutrition experts after the film. Should be a worthwhile evening.