24 September 2015
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Statins Damage Stem Cells, Causing Premature Ageing
Statins are probably the most hyped-up and overprescribed medications ever. While their manufacturers and some doctors still think everybody over 50 should be taking them, study after study is piling up to show the dreadful risks and side effects of these drugs. And new research adds yet another one – statins cause stem cells to age prematurely and prevent them from developing into bone and cartilage cells.
As I mentioned here, recent studies have shown that taking these cholesterol-reducing medications makes you 87 per cent more likely to develop type 2 diabetes and two-and-a-half times more likely to develop serious diabetic complications. And although they are touted to prevent heart disease, they do nothing to reduce the risk and could actually accelerate hardening of the arteries in the heart and could cause heart failure by impairing heart muscle function.
Added to these major health risks from statin drugs are increased risks of dementia, Parkinson's disease and cancer, as well as the well-documented side effects of muscle pain and weakness, headache, insomnia, dizziness, digestive problems, abdominal cramps, memory loss and confusion. Now, a new study has revealed that statins also cause dysfunction and premature ageing of the body's stem cells.
Researchers found that statins (pravastatin and atorvastatin) slowed the growth of mesenchymal stem cells, which are found throughout the body, and increased the rate at which they aged and died.1 Shockingly, stem cells from young people taking statins were found to have accelerated ageing, just like stem cells from elderly people. The drugs also prevented these stem cells from developing into bone and cartilage cells.
These are important findings. Stem cells have a vital function in repairing and maintaining body tissues, a property that has been exploited as stem cell therapies for treating many degenerative diseases. Impairing their function, as statin drugs do, must damage the vitality of the whole body and cause it to age faster than normal. Diabetes also impairs the functioning of stem cells, so the last thing somebody with diabetes needs is to add to that effect by taking statins.
Statins don't reduce heart disease risk, but natural alternatives do
Meanwhile, another meta-analysis shows that statins do absolutely nothing to reduce deaths from cardiovascular disease in people without a previous history of heart disease and may prevent just one non-fatal heart attack for every 104 people taking them over a five-year period (and one stroke for every 154 people over the same period).2 And these were people with an elevated (estimated 25 per cent) risk of heart disease due to high blood pressure, diabetes or smoking.
On the other hand, one in ten of these patients experienced muscle pain and weakness while one in 100 developed type 2 diabetes as a direct result of taking statins. So statins are more likely to give you crippling muscle pain and a life blighted by diabetes than to help you avoid a heart attack or stroke.
If you are worried about your heart disease risk see your doctor by all means, but politely decline any invitation to jump on the statins bandwagon. The drug-free, healthy alternatives are well-known and will benefit your whole body, right down to your stem cells.
- Physical activity – we all know about it but how many of us actually get enough of it? No need to work out at the gym; walking the dog, digging the allotment, playing ball with the kids or cycling to work are all great
- However how hard you exercise, it won't help if you spend most of the day sitting down. To really benefit your heart, work standing up and/or take regular breaks away from your desk
- Diet – I've said it all before on these pages, but following a low-carb diet based on fresh, unprocessed foods is essential for heart health as well as for managing or reversing diabetes
- Omega-3 fatty acids, from oily fish, walnuts and linseeds (flaxseeds) will help to keep your arteries and heart healthy
- Garlic, green tea, dark chocolate, red wine, berries and pulses have also been shown to lower heart disease risk
- Take supplements of vitamin E (d-alpha tocopherol form), co-enzyme Q10 (ubiquinol form) and arginine – these nutrients work together to keep your heart in peak condition
- Look after your teeth – and even more importantly, your gums. Having gum disease raises your heart disease risk, too
- Have fun and chill out – time spent doing what you enjoy, laughing, relaxing and acting like a kid does wonders for your heart health
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