Health & Fitness
Statins Can Make You Dumb
Larry is a pharmacist who has concluded that too many people take too many drugs. One of the most popular - and most dangerous - are the statins.
Simvastatin Causes Changes in Affective Processes in Elderly Volunteers
That's the title of a report published in the January 2006 issue of Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
The study makes a clear point that aggressively lowering lipids with simvastatin (ZOCOR™) changes mood. If it can do that it can also make other changes in brain function - such as thinking, memory, reasoning, planning, parts of speech, movement, emotions, movement, orientation, recognition, perception of stimuli, and problem solving.
How can a drug that lowers cholesterol in the blood change your brain?
- Brain tissue contains an abundance of lipid/fat - and cholesterol.
- Every nerve is coated with it, like the insulation on a wire. It's called the myelin sheath.
- Therefore,anything that can lower lipid levels is likely to lower it throughout the body - including the brain.
Using chemicals to lower lipids probably has negative impact on the overall functioning of the brain. Furythermore, there is no evidence that normal or high cholesterol levels have any direct effect on coronary vascular disease - heart attacks. Even if someone could demonstrate how lowering chnolesterol would yield a healthy heart, would you really want to use a drug that would leave you too stupid to enjoy it?
Authors: Morales, Knashawn1; Wittink, Marsha2; Datto, Catherine; DiFilippo, Suzanne; Cary, Mark1; TenHave, Thomas; Katz, Ira R.
