Jeffery Jaxen and Del Bigtree discuss evidence-based data showing a dramatic increase in neurodegenerative diseases in people on statins.
As you can imagine, the relationship between ALS, Alzheimer's, and statins is heavily suppressed. Here is what little I could find.
"Nevertheless, many patients have reported a connection between taking a statin-type medicine and the development of ALS-like symptoms (see comments below). There is also a publication from Beatrice Golomb, MD, and her colleagues (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis-Like Conditions in Possible Association with Cholesterol-Lowering Drugs: An Analysis of Patient Reports to the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) Statin Effects Study, Drug Safety, Aug. 8, 2009)"
So the medical community is ignoring this while people are NOT.
From a recent blog - see the connection?
Here is an interesting coincidence. The brain is very active but less so during sleep. Imagine if your bicep was always active, curling a weight all day. By the end of the day, it would be exhausted and relish a good night's sleep to recover. That is your brain every day.
Consequently, brain cells use roughly ten times more oxygen than the average of the rest of the cells in the body. Your bicep would also use more oxygen if it exercised all day long. Two simple facts explain the importance of the cholesterol molecule and LDL that transports cholesterol to the brain.
1. The brain uses ~25 percent of the oxygenated blood leaving the heart. The brain is only about 2.5 percent of the mass of the body. Thus, it uses ten times more oxygenated blood, on average.
2. Twenty-five (25) percent of the cholesterol found in the body is in the brain.
Isn't it interesting that 25 percent of the oxygenated blood and 25 percent of the cholesterol are in the brain?
Coincidence?
Cholesterol, per Harvard, is a critical component of all cells. When cells are very active, they are more likely to break down and be rebuilt, just like an active muscle. "No pain - no gain." Pain results from breaking down cells that rebuild stronger than the ones replaced. Consider the bicep example and the soreness you would experience the next day if you curled a weight all day. Due to its constant activity, the brain needs more repair substances, and cholesterol is the most important of the lot.
Oxygen consumption and cholesterol levels go together. Where there is "fire," there is a need for repair.
In a future blog, I will answer the question, "If not 'total cholesterol,' then what?
Index & Upcoming (short) blogs on cholesterol and statins
Number 1: Cholesterol fun (true) facts - completed
Number 2: Is the actual cholesterol molecule important? c - completed
Number 3: What is an optimal TC value? Remember, no one knows their actual cholesterol molecule value. - completed
Number 4: Surprising fact about cholesterol as an antibiotic - completed
Number 5: TC simple math - dumb doctors - completed
Number 6: What is LDL really? - completed
Number 7: Statins - do they lower the cholesterol molecule? - completed
Number 8: What did we learn from the new "biologics" to lower "cholesterol" - completed
Number 9: Niacin and other "cholesterol" management treatments - completed
Number 10: What did Natasha Campbell-McBride say about cholesterol/lipids? - completed
Number 11: What is a QALY, and how does it relate to "cholesterol"? - completed
Number 12: Idiot doctor from Johns Hopkins, Roger Blumenthal
Number 13: Statin drugs CAUSE diabetes
Number 14: If not "cholesterol," then what?
Number 15: Who says statins do NOT extend life?
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Speaking of oxygen, it is important for our blood vessels. You want to ensure you are not lacking Silica aka Silicon Dioxide (SiO2) which is made up of oxygen. We cannot get enough from food and the body does not store it. Silica is found in every organ and helps repair all the connective tissues. We all need it. It is tough to overdose. Silica is great for the skin and building strong bones, and it helps to alkaline the stomach, reduce kidney stones, bind to aluminum, and much more.