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Kids on Statin Drugs Plus Calcium and Heart Attacks

I could barely contain my indignation when I read in the New York Times (July 7, 2008) that the American Academy of Pediatrics, the kiddy branch of the AMA, was suggesting that statin drugs should be given to CHILDREN as young as age 8! There is nothing BUT WRONG with this recommendation. Their excuse is the "obesity epidemic." What epidemic? I don't know any really fat kids, do you? (They must all live in Indianapolis .) Driving the statin nail further into their small coffins, the AMA pediatricians maintain that 30% of our children are overweight or obese and as adults will be at risk for heart disease and the docs fear that a rash of early heart attacks and diabetes is on the horizon as these children grow up.

Well, I have an idea. About the kids, that is. How about putting these cute little plump kids on a diet? How about NOT checking cholesterol levels on an 8 year old? How about cutting out all the crappy food? How about saying no when they ask for a DQ Blizzard before dinner? How about boycotting McDonalds? How about becoming more proactive about the abysmally unhealthy school lunches? How about getting these tired kids out of their Chubbette-sized overalls and onto soccer teams, or swim teams or how about just taking a long walk with them every day or so. (I am now tearing my hair out.)

But now you are in a high dudgeon, canceling your email subscription to my newsletter saying stuff like, "It's not their fault, we have to educate the parents, we have to start grassroots movements in Indianapolis to educate the schools, they're too poor to buy healthy food, we have to get the government involved, it's a public health issue, blah, blah, blah." Well, yes, you are right on all counts, but nonetheless, that does not remove the fact that statin drugs  dangerous, many awful side-effects, life shortening  are going to be given to 8 year olds with elevated cholesterol levels. If you want to do something, you can start by educating yourself and those around you, and be the change that you want to see in others.

This is a prime example of the survival of the fittest: How the lean and healthy kids from educated, savvy, nutritionally oriented parents will become the healthy successful adults while the overweight kids - from the less educated or poor or don't care or just get some sugary carbo-load junky dinner on the table - will slog along with no energy, no get up and go, and die young at their menial jobs because that's all they have the energy and intelligence to handle. They will never live up to their full potential and maybe they will go toes up at age 35 while performing their 2,500th oil change at Jiffy Lube, and this would be EARLIER if they go on a statin drug at age 8.

It's sad but true that "the sins of the fathers are visited upon the sons", but statin drugs are not the answer. On to happier subjects, like how calcium supplements can cause increased risk of heart attacks in women.

I've always maintained that the across-the-board recommendation that all women over the age of 35 take 1,000 mgs of supplemental calcium per day to prevent osteoporosis is egregiously wrong. We are not all bio-chemically and physiologically the same and we don't all have the same need for calcium. Anyway, osteoporosis is a disease of an imbalanced pH more than it is a disease of calcium lack. You can get most of the calcium you need from your diet anyway - like in leafy greens, dairy products and fortified juices. You could also eat a more alkaline diet - less sugar, meat, alcohol - which will assist you in absorbing the calcium that you do eat or supplement with.

Here are the results of recent research: New Zealand scientist found that increased heart disease risks may outweigh the (supposed - my word) positive effects on bone in healthy postmenopausal women who took Citracal calcium supplements. They gave 1,000 mgs of elemental calcium to 732 post-menopausal women, mean age 74, and gave a placebo to 739 women, mean age 74. After 5 years, researchers found that heart attacks were more common in the group that took the calcium: 31 women on calcium had heart attacks, while only 21 on the placebo. (British Medical Journal, Feb. 2, 2008)

The supposition is that because calcium supplements raised blood calcium levels, they might also increase the risk of vascular calcification that raises the risk of heart attack.

This is my big fear: A calcium supplements is not a benign thing, even though it may come wrapped in candy-like packages and tastes like good caramel.

How many tens of thousands of women are taking calcium supplements? How many of these women have a too acid diet (meat, sugar, alcohol etc)? How many of these women have calcium that is not being degraded properly? It could be landing in their kidneys creating kidney stones, in the joints creating arthritic nodules or in the arterial intima creating atherosclerosis. There are many factors involved in the degradation of calcium into usable fractions. I have written a lot about osteoporosis, the effects of calcium, the importance of pH, and how Fosamax was created by Satan and you can read about it in past Hot News on this site.

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