Cholesterol Drugs | Advertising | Metabolic Syndrome

Contents

3. Feature Article: You Think You're Good Enough NOT to Take Our Pills?

Your HRH Program E-book and Bonuses

If you haven’t yet purchased the HRH Program e-book, there’s no time like the present! Go to www.heartratehealth.com to get a copy, plus nearly $100 in bonus material. And remember, if it doesn’t work for you for any reason, you have one year to return it for a full refund.

Link of the Week

This month, I’ve been hard at work getting some new things up on the web site. After many requests to make all the newsletters available online, I’ve put them up for you in a special place that is not visible to viewers who do not have a subscription to the newsletter. To find this issue and other back issues online, please go to www.heartratehealth.com/hrh-newsletters/.

I’ve also put up another page of information about preventing and treating metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance, and Type II Diabetes. You can find that page at www.heartratehealth.com/diabetes/. There’s also a link at the bottom of the page to find out my opinion on treating and preventing diabetes with supplements.

You’ll also notice that I’ve added some Google advertising to the site in a few places. If you’re so inclined, pay a visit and click on one of the ads to find more information that may be of interest to you. (Wink, wink. Nod, nod.) This helps support the site.

If you’re interested in seeing more about a particular topic, please don’t hesitate to write to me at craig@heartratehealth.com. I’d be happy to oblige. In fact, I’m just sitting here, lonely, waiting for someone to write back. (Kidding, just kidding.)

Question of the Week: Does yard work count if my heart rate is in the HRH Workout Zone?

Absolutely! In fact, I’ll sometimes use yard work as a nice break from the treadmill. If you want to make a workout of it, you’ll just need to speed it up a little, depending on what you’re doing. Using a heart rate monitor is the best way to know if you’re in the HRH Workout Zone of 65-75%.

Remember, any physical activity is better than no physical activity. When you can get something done while burning calories, you’re really being doubly effective. In fact, you’re getting back to what humans were really built to do all along, which is to make our living by moving around.

Fall is just about my favorite time to be outside. The leaves are turning and the air is fresh and crisp. What’s not to like?

For my readers in Australia or other southern climes, please note that spring isn’t so bad either!

Feature Article: You Think You're Good Enough NOT to Take Our Pills?

If you haven’t seen the prescription drugs ads on television, you must not have a television. They’re everywhere, and they’re convincing millions of people who may not need medication to “talk to their doctor” about getting fixed up with free samples.

The mark of a drug ad seems to be the overt caution they seem to be recommending for anyone using their products. Fill in the blank here: if you have an _______ for more than four hours, please seek immediate medical attention.

But these overt warnings are not the most important distinguishing features of the ads. What truly sets them apart is the subtle manipulation they use to make you think you need to take them.

Look at the ads for Lipitor, an effective cholesterol lowering drug offered by Pfizer. In their ads, you see a very good looking man getting ready for a swim, or a glamorous woman emerging from a limousine to the flashbulbs of the adoring paparazzi.

You’re notified that these are people who have it all. Not only do they take care of themselves and have the attention of opposite sex well into middle age, but they’re likely also rich and famous.

Then, whoops, they belly flop into the pool or trip onto the red carpet in front of all their fans. We learn they’re not perfect after all. They can’t dive or walk well in high heels, and oh yes, they have high cholesterol.

Isn’t that just a comical way of introducing a drug? Well, yes, but that’s not all that the ad is trying to accomplish.

The subtle message here is that even if you were to live the perfect life, you would probably still need their drug to lower your cholesterol.

The viewer is left thinking, “I’ll never get myself to look that good no matter how hard I exercise and watch my diet, so why should I even try? Isn’t it better just to quit trying and take the drug?”

This, of course, is the wrong message to send to Americans, who don’t need any more excuses to sit around and wait for terrible diseases to succumb to.

High levels of low-density cholesterol are a problem. And everyone who has this should be making every effort to get it down. (If your doctor tells you to take statins like Lipitor, take his or her advice straight to the pharmacy counter.)

People with a genetic predisposition to overly high cholesterol are the minority, though, not the majority. In fact, a web site sponsored by the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey estimates that familial hypercholesterolemia (genetically high cholesterol) affects only 1 in 500 people: Click here for that reference..

But the simple fact is that cholesterol can almost always be lowered with a combination of exercise and a diet that is lower in saturated fats.

The drugs companies do pay lip service to this, but they do so in a way that’s almost a throwaway line—“exercise, eat better, yada, yada, yada”—knowing full well that Americans won’t be changing those habits anytime soon. (Similarly, cigarette manufacturers know they can run all the anti-smoking ads the government wants them to with very little effect on sales.)

There will be people who need to take cholesterol-lowering drugs, and we should be thankful that companies like Pfizer are around to help out in those situations. (I take a prescription Pfizer product and would have a much lower quality of life without it.)

However, statins are powerful drugs, and powerful drugs often have quite malicious side effects that one might want to avoid. With all statins, there is a danger of permanent nerve damage known as neuropathy. Neuropathy causes pain and tingling in the legs, as well as a loss of sensation, when the nerves stop functioning. Amputations are common with this condition.

A study in Sweden showed that two years of statin use raised the risk of developing peripheral neuropathy by 26%.

Given that statistic alone, it would be better to emphasize that most people will be able to control their cholesterol through a sensible diet and exercise program. We may never look like the models and actors who supposedly have cholesterol problems, but perhaps we can have better health without drug interventions.

And that’s it for this week. Talk to you soon!

Craig