Are you one of the millions of people taking medications to lower cholesterol, such as statins (Lipitor, Crestor, Pravachol, Crestor, et al)?  If not, you may want to speak with your physician about taking one, even if your cholesterol levels are within “normal” ranges.

A large study (17,802 people) of generally healthy men over 50 and women over 60 mostly with acceptable cholesterol levels but some with elevated high-sensitivity C-reactive protein levels (CRP, a blood indicator of inflammation in the body) has shown that taking stains may indeed lower the risk of heart disease, strokes and deaths, and not just by controlling cholesterol levels.  This information points to lowering CRP levels as being very important to limiting heart disease and premature death due to cardiovascular “events,” and statins lower them.

This study, nicknamed “Jupiter,” was recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine online.  It was funded by AstraZeneca the maker of Crestor (Rosuvastatin) and other pharmaceutical companies and was originally scheduled to run for five years, but the results that participants were greatly benefiting from the medication were so impressive, they ended it after only 1.9 years. Even though sponsored by a pharmaceutical company, the study involved many physicians and scientists, and is generally considered to be applicable to all statins, not just those made by the sponsor.

It’s been established for awhile that cardiovascular/heart disease was affected not only by high cholesterol levels, but also by inflammation in the body, and higher CRP levels were a red-flag.  Now, physicians and scientists are seeing that medications that control both can be greatly helpful in preventing or slowing heart and cardiovascular diseases.

I thought you’d want to know about this right away.