Should cholesterol reducing drugs be served with fast
food? (Photo:
Suat Eman via freedigitalphotos.net)
A study from researchers at Imperial College London seriously
suggests that it may be wise for fast food outlets to provide
statin drugs free of charge with the condiments, so that
customers can neutralize the heart disease dangers of fatty
food. Statins are a class of drugs that can reduce the amount of
"LDL" cholesterol in the blood. Some data suggests that this
reduction is accompanied by a reduced risk of cardiovascular
disease including heart attack and stroke.
Dr Darrel Francis and colleagues state in
their paper published in the American Journal of
Cardiology, that the reduction in cardiovascular risk
offered by a statin would be enough to offset the increase in
heart attack risk from eating a cheeseburger and a milkshake.
Dr Francis, who is from the National Heart and Lung Institute
at Imperial College London, is the senior author of the study.
"Statins don't cut out all of the unhealthy effects of
burgers and fries," said Dr Francis. "It's better to avoid fatty
food altogether. But we've worked out that in terms of your
likelihood of having a heart attack, taking a statin can reduce
your risk to more or less the same degree as a fast food meal
increases it."
Simvastatin, one of this popular class of drugs, is already
available in the UK at low doses (10mg) without a prescription,
over the counter at pharmacies. Other statins are, so far, only
available by prescription due, in part, because of possible side
effects and drug interactions which must be assessed prior to
use. However, the cost of these drugs has fallen sharply in
recent years from approximately £40 (US$60) per month to around
£1.50 (US$2.50) per month in the UK.
"It's ironic that people are free to take as many unhealthy
condiments in fast food outlets as they like, but statins, which
are beneficial to heart health, have to be prescribed," said Dr
Francis. “Everybody knows that fast food is bad for you, but
people continue to eat it because it tastes good. We're
genetically programmed to prefer high-calorie foods, and sadly
fast food chains will continue to sell unhealthy foods because
it earns them a living.”
The National Heart and Lung Institute researchers note that
studies need to be conducted to assess the potential risks of
allowing people to take statins freely, without medical
supervision or prescription. They further recommend a warning on
packets of the drug emphasizing that no tablet can substitute
for a healthy diet, and advising people to consult their doctor
for dietary advice.
“Statins have among the best safety profiles of any
medication” according to the
Imperial College release, but a
review of several papers on statins suggest this is not
quite true. At the very least the suggestion that statins should
be freely available, and so possibly ingested by those who’s
blood lipid profiles would not be improved by their use, with
the possible and sometimes serious side effects that accompany
their use, is pretty questionable public health policy.
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