The multi-billion dollar lie behind America's ballooning BMI

Dear Reader, I'll never understand why some people would rather be dependent on drugs every day for the rest of their lives than give up cookies and get off the couch. Actually, maybe I do understand. Because it all boils down to the dangerous "magic bullet" myth Big Pharma is perpetually pushing. (Never mind that those pills don'treally solve your health problems. Or that they always come at a price.) So you can only imagine how hard I winced when I saw this latest study show up in my inbox. As if I needed another reason to despise the statin drug racket that's hijacked this country's healthcare system. New research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) has unveiled yet another disturbing side effect of statin therapy. In this study, patients who were prescribed these cholesterol-lowering drugs saw a 10 percent increase in calorie intake over the course of a decade. And a 14 percent increase in fat intake over the same period. Of course, those numbers don't mean much by themselves. As you know, I don't think healthy eating habits hinge on either calorie or fat restriction. They just happen to be the two parameters that these narrow-minded researchers focused on. But I'd be willing to bet the statin patients in this study were consuming a lot more than just a few extra grams of fat. Because researchers also reported that statin users saw larger increases in body mass index (BMI) than non-users. In fact, these particular statin users got up to 10 pounds fatter. And as I've explained before, that's a clinically significant amount of weight. Especially among patients who are already worried about heart health. Losing just two pounds can cut your risk of diabetes by more than 15 percent. And losing just 5 percent of your body weight can cut fatty liver--the insidious condition that dramatically raises your risk of diabetes, stroke, and heart disease--by a third. Yet, I'd bet that the doctors prescribing statins to the patients in this study neveronce mentioned what to eat and what not to eat. (As if they'd even know what to recommend.) And I'm certain they never discussed exercise, either, except maybe in the most perfunctory manner. Let's face it. If doctors routinely expressed to their patients just how much of an impact even the smallest lifestyle changes can make, they wouldn't need to prescribe statins so often in the first place. (Or blood pressure meds. Or diabetes drugs. The list goes on.) Of course, who does that benefit? The patient, sure. But not Big Pharma. And in today's mainstream medical culture, that's who's really calling the shots. So what's the point in discussing nutrition? If Big Pharma isn't making money, then as far as they're concerned, physicians don't need to "waste" time talking about it. Case in point: the authors of this study noted that they "did not observe a pattern of combining statin use with dietary control." In fact, they claimed that statin users let loose under a false sense of security, assuming that the cholesterol-lowering drugs would compensate for their poor diets and lack of exercise. Which I would certainly agree with. But, well, who exactly leads patients to believe that? I'll tell you who: their doctors, Big Pharma, and a bunch of grossly misleading television advertisements. (Which, in my opinion, should be illegal.) Why would anyone change when so many people are telling you that you don't have to? Just kick back with a bag of chips and let a "magic bullet" pill do all the work for you. It's disgusting. But it serves a very specific (and sinister) purpose: You go on a statin. You gain weight. So you need more drugs. It's a winning combination for shareholders. But not so much for YOU. In my opinion, this latest study is just further proof that conventional medicine hasnothing to offer people who are actually interested in being healthy. And that the whole extraordinarily lucrative business behind statin drugs is a sham. There aren't many doctors who will tell you that. But I will. You want a longer life, stick with me. And whatever you do, stay away from statins. Until next time, Dr. Fred Sources: Off the Lifestyle Hook with Statins? Study Shows Weight Gain, More Calories Consumed. Medscape. Apr 24, 2014. "Different Time Trends of Caloric and Fat Intake Between Statin Users and Nonusers Among US Adults: Gluttony in the Time of Statins?" JAMA Intern Med. 2014 Apr 24.