According to the National Institute of Health approximately 1.5 million men and women were diagnosed with cancer in 2009. One in every two individuals will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime. As of 2006 there were approximately 11.4 million men and women in the US who have or are fighting cancer. More and more reports are being made available implicating statin drugs and the spread of cancer.
In reading the following keep in mind that statin drugs are a 12.5 billion dollar industry. 16 million Americans are currently taking Lipitor alone. The drug companies are targeting an additional 36 million more potential “customers”.
Small malignant tumors need nutrients to grow, invade nearby tissue and develop new colonies of cancer cells. To do this cancer cells release chemical signals to nearby blood vessels to stimulate the growth of new vessels to the cancer cells. This is called angiogenesis.
Tumor cells can also seed metastatic sites even in early stages of cancer detection. Most of these cells don’t survive long. However, some viable cells can remain dormant and resistant to conventional therapies. These dormant cancer cells can become active and begin to proliferate many years later. Their ability to do this depends on the availability of an adequate blood supply.
In a study by Dr Michael Simons at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, statins, especially Zocor, were shown to promote angiogenesis, which is good for patients with cardiovascular damage, but not good for the 1.3 million individuals diagnosed with cancer every year.
In addition, all cholesterol lowering drugs diminish the effectiveness of T-cells and natural killer cells that attack malignant cells. During their clinical trials statin drugs caused cancer in every lab animal tested. In one study female statin drug users had an increase of breast cancer by 1500%.
A very well known study (PROSPER) reported a 25% increase in cancer among the elderly being treated with pravastatin (pravachol). Other studies on women taking pravastatin showed 12 cases of breast cancer compared to only one in the untreated group. This confirmed multiple animal studies that reported the link between the statin drugs and cancer.
If you’re interested in learning what you can do to lower your cholesterol without using statin drugs go to Correcting Cholesterol Without Drugs
KOLESTER is an effective cholesterol lowering herbal used by my clients instead of statin drugs along with a cholesterol lowering program.