Statins

[ethandron]

If you take statins for high cholesterol does it mean you then don't have to worry about the fat content of foods any more?

[Bazile]

No

[ethandron]

Brief but to the point Bazile :)
May I ask how you know?

[Hopkirk]

Well I think it reduces your risks, but doesn't eliminate them. You therefore need to continue living a healthy lifestyle in other ways.

[gollob]

If it were true everybody would be taking them

[pastafreak]

Ermmm...hasnt that been suggested already?

[ethandron]

You reckon Gollob?
I think many people are resistant to taking statins even if they're advised to by their doctor.

[jno]

I took statins for a while but I had to come off them as they were causing muscle pains, which is apparently not uncommon.

It turned out my cholesterol level was fine anyway, so I'll never know why they were presecribed. Probably just because they were thought for a while to be a wonder drug, and now they aren't.

[pastafreak]

Maybe because not as many may benefit as we've been told...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-4530364/Statins-provide-no-benefit-pensioners.html

I also read somewhere that older women on statins are at greater risk of developing diabetes.

[Sqad]

Let us assume that there is a relationship between high blood cholesterol, diet, heart attacks and strokes, which is mainstream medical thinking, although many doctors question this, then yes, logically one must take one's statins and reduce one's fat content in food.

[Bazile]

pasta ( can I call you pasta ? )
Even the experts can't agree .

What chance have we , Joe Bloggs ?

[ethandron]

I think we can worry too much about the finer details of our lifestyles, life has to be worth living after all.
We do try to be sensible but have recently gone back to full fat milk, which we don't drink by the gallon but do have in tea and coffee. And real butter, again only have that on a sandwich at lunchtime, maybe occasionally cook with it, but it just got me thinking about the whole cholesterol and statin business.
I guess it's that thing of anything in moderation.

[Hopkirk]

You are OK with the butter and full fat milk, Ethandron. After years of being told all animal fats are bad, they now say that studies do not back this up for dairy fats. Best still to avoid the bread and dripping sandwiches - they are still on the naughty list.

[Purist]

My advice would be to avoid processed junk like cakes, biscuits, ready meals and anything not nutritionally dense. I have no problem with eating natural foods, natural sugars and natural fats. Keep alcohol to a minimum. Less is more.
I am yet to be convinced in the "wonders" of statins.

[ethandron]

Thanks for all your answers...Hoppy, bread and dripping has never appealed but it's so nice to have proper milk and real butter again, no comparison :)