Many people equate lowering cholesterol with decreasing the risk for heart disease. Actually, this is not exactly the case. What we know is:
1. High Cholesterol IS a risk factor for heart disease.
2. Using Statins (like Lipitor), or proper diet can lower your risk of heart disease.
3. Statins and diet can lower cholesterol, BUT that may be a side effect, not how they decrease your risk.
4. Drugs that decrease cholesterol, such as Niacin and Zetia have been shown to have NO EFFECT on heart disease.
And again another new drug (Darapladib) developed to lower a lipid, lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2, has shown not to be effective in decreasing heart disease.
More and more research seems to show that lowering lipids is not enough to prevent heart disease and that statins probably have other beneficial effects.
So why do expensive and detailed blood tests when there is nothing we can do about it. Some doctors are running very extensive lipid profiles and then recommending special diets or medications to change the values. But since changing values alone is probably ineffective I would condemn this type of medicine as bad, dangerous and mostly a way to generate income.
If your baseline lipids are high, or you have a family history of premature heart disease these are the only steps that have been proven to work:
1. Eat well - plenty of fruits and vegetables and less fatty and sugary foods.
2. Keep your weight optimal
3. Exercise regularly
4. Do not smoke!
5. Use a statin such as Lipitor if necessary (but that does not mean you can ignore #1!!)
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