Use of statins favors the wealthy, creating new social disparities in cholestero page

[SerialSinner]

Sometimes science news make me want to cry.
[quote]

"High cholesterol was once known as a rich man&#39;s disease, because the wealthy had easier access to high fat foods (e.g., red meat). Now wealthy Americans are least likely to have high cholesterol, because they are more likely to be treated with statins, an expensive but highly effective pharmaceutical treatment to lower lipid levels."</blockquote>


http://tinyurl.com/yd4vyxe

[Acmebike]

SerialSinner, me too! So much wrong in that article. At least I know how to keep inflammation low, limit the production of Advanced Glycation End-products, keep my insulin sensitivity up, insulin production down. Regardless of income level.


How? Eliminate veggie oils/franken fats, use no refined sweeteners/sugars, remove grains from the diet, eat freely of naturally raised animal foods, vegetables, nuts and berries, exercise in intense short efforts (weights, body weight compound movements, sprinting), play, relax, nap, get proper sleep.


Oh wait, suppose everyone here has read the book, too! Far better bang for your buck than a Statin prescription!

[kuno1chi]

I am one broke Mo-Fo...but thanks to PB, have avoided the Statins...doctor is puzzled but happy. Film at Eleven.

[Geoff]

What&#39;s that old line about "A fool and his money..."?

[OnTheBayou]

I am always amazed that anyone is amazed that the rich and the poor are different. Different opportunities, different choices, different outcomes. Many have far less to do with money than knowledge and culture; i.e., how many PB books does Mark sell into the lowest quintile of income?

[Geoff]

OtB - Good points. It&#39;s a fact of life in the U.S. that the rich have more options. "Different opportunities, different choices" is probably the more applicable here. At least in the U.S., the poor are far less likely to carry insurance to pay for the cost of the doctor&#39;s visit (to say nothing of the drugs) and their out of pocket costs may well be prohibitive.


I agree that there are "knowledge gaps" between rich and poor, but with the saturation of statin advertisements throughout the mass media, it&#39;s hard to think that aspect of CW hasn&#39;t seeped into everyone&#39;s consciousness by now. If people aren&#39;t getting them it&#39;s because they either can&#39;t afford them or aren&#39;t motivated.


Mark might not sell a lot of books to the lowest quintile of income, but one great thing he does is to put this information up on the web for free. Anyone, regardless of income, can go to a public library almost anywhere in the U.S. and review his ideas online. Of course simply learning that this stuff is available is a huge barrier for many, but isn&#39;t getting the word out part of what the "Grok-brigade" is all about?

[SerialSinner]

One of the main issues I see with the article is that it blames lower cholesterol to access to statins as opposed to diet. People with lower income in America very likely have a diet richer in refined carbs, sugar and omega 6 (fast/junk food) than people who shop in Whole Foods or Farmer markets.

[Geoff]

Yes, that aspect can&#39;t be ignored, SS. I didn&#39;t even get into the levels of CW-BS on which that article is predicated


My "A fool and his money..." line simply reflected my impression that the same people (the rich) whose tastes were exploited to give us refined grains are now being exploited to give us an equally illusionary class of drugs that (like refined carbs before them) will soon be aggressively foisted off on (a/k/a pushed to) the poor to treat their symptoms instead of addressing the root cause of their condition.

[OnTheBayou]

I lived in "The Hood" of Denver for six years, and spent two of them working as the director of a computer lab in a non-profit in the same neighborhood. All told, an eye opening experience about cultures, "poverty" (nothing like it once was), and priorities.


For instance, instead of just giving rehabbed computers away, they had a "price" of four hours of volunteer labor at any charitable organization around. I&#39;d say two thirds of the people inquiring lost their enthusiasm for a "free" computer when they heard that. I told that once to a guy who was getting cable TV installed and he suddenly wasn&#39;t interested.

[SerialSinner]

speaking of the devil:

http://tinyurl.com/yc6hbuj