Cholesterol-Lowering Drug

Prescriptions Only Treat Heart Disease—a Vegan Diet Prevents It

Half of all Americans develop heart disease, because the typical American diet puts almost everyone at risk. Every meal rich in meat, dairy products, or eggs has a direct effect on the heart as the blood thickens with cholesterol and other waxy substances, which accumulate in the arteries. The Food and Drug Administration states that dietary cholesterol is not necessary and that any dietary cholesterol will raise overall cholesterol levels to some extent. Many who suffer from high-cholesterol are turning to drugs as an easy fix.

One of the world’s leading research and advisory firms focusing on pharmaceutical and health-care issues has forecasted that the total market value of drugs to treat heart disease could reach $15 billion by 2007 and $23 billion by 2012. The American Heart Association estimates that heart disease costs the Medicare system more than $10 billion each year. A new study by Pharmacor, an advisory service that analyzes the commercial outlook of drugs in research and development, reports that the number of total prevalent cases of heart disease will increase from 187 million in 2002 to 217 million in 2012.

The world’s largest randomized study of cholesterol-lowering drugs, or “statins,” followed 20,000 patients for up to eight years. It revealed that cholesterol-lowering drugs reduced the risk of heart attack and stroke by at least one-quarter for those at highest risk, proving that these drugs are effective. However, the effectiveness of these drugs is far outweighed by their expense and inherent risks. Americans spend billions of dollars annually for cholesterol-lowering drugs that often have dangerous side effects. The two main complications from taking cholesterol-lowering drugs are liver problems and myopathy, a painful muscle condition.

In contrast, adopting a vegetarian diet is cheaper and more effective than cholesterol-lowering drugs, and it has absolutely no adverse side effects. Dr. Dean Ornish, head of the Preventative Medicine Research Institute in California, says, “Most people can accomplish comparable reductions in LDL-cholesterol [bad cholesterol] by diet and lifestyle alone.” In a 1998 study, Ornish reported a 40 percent reduction in LDL-cholesterol after one year among a group of patients with heart disease who followed his program, including 30 minutes of moderate exercise daily and a low-fat, vegetarian diet.

Drugmakers spend billions of dollars marketing cholesterol-lowering drugs, and the advertising works. Doctors write millions of prescriptions. The pharmaceutical companies make billions of dollars. But since the focus is on treating the disease rather than preventing it from happening in the first place, the vicious cycle repeats itself.

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