I thought many here would enjoy some news from one of this forum’s most controversial substance : statins!
The findings indicate that the continual use of statins was linked to a 21% reduction in relative risk and an absolute risk reduction of 5% over five years in CVDs among people aged 75–84. The relative risk reduction was an even more substantial 35%, and the absolute risk reduction after five years was 12.5% in those aged 85 or above. The study also found no increased risk of major adverse events, including liver dysfunction or myopathies, identified with statin use in this population.
I am not in keto, but yes, I call that a small risk factor.
Most of this is based on lowering lipid levels, so if your lipids are fine because of your diet and lifestyle or keeping them in check with supplements, you certainly don’t need a statin. Studies I have looked at fail to dismiss the confounders such as obesity.
If you are obese you may need a statin.
No keto here either. (Where did that come from?) Not seeing the design and methodology, there is no way to make an informed judgment about the generalizability of this study but I am naturally sceptical of generalized claims of discrete benefit over the 75-85 year age period. Confounding variables mount with concomitants of age, especially as the rates of decline accelerate. It is almost certain that the researchers “controlled” for health and fitness related variables using various statistical methods. It is often necessary to do this and increasingly necessary in older populations but it always raises the possibility of alternative, equally plausible, explanations.
It’s not a controversial substance here. That’s a fake controversy. The fact of the matter that an increase in LDL cholesterol or apoB, and Lp(a) will causally increase the risk of stroke, heart disease, and other ways that will maim someone, and overall causally increase the risk of shorter lifespan via those mechanisms. That’s how reality is and I don’t care how much someone wants to deny it or downplay it with some cherry picked association study that is about as useful as ice cream consumption causing shark attacks. We have good evidence that actually can assess causality.
I don’t think anyone here cares whether someone takes statins or not, that is not what’s important, it’s the underlying mechanism. Statins inhibit HMGCR to decrease LDL production in the liver which also increases LDL receptors on the surface of it to remove it from circulation. You can use other ways to upregulate LDL receptors on the liver to remove LDL containing atherogenic lipoproteins from circulation, either way is fine.