Statins and vitamin d
commenting on this paper
Increased Levels of 25 Hydroxyvitamin D and 1,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D After Rosuvastatin Treatment: A Novel Pleiotropic Effect of Statins? Full text online.
This is likely to be the way the claimed clinical benefit of statins is achieved and may be the pleiotropic effect of rosuvastatin, decreasing mortality in patients with coronary artery disease.
But they still don't know the mechanism involved
This is a new listing on PUBMED and it's relevant here because it seems to me pointless taking a statin (with many obvious and dangerous side effects) that achieves it's magic by actually increasing your vitamin D3 status (by some mechanism as yet unidentified) when you can more cheaply and more effectively and without any side effects achieve the same effect (without any side effects) by taking Cholecalciferol Vitamin D3 by itself.
It is sheer madness (or the perverted logic of big Pharma) to make people take a drug that has potential for unpleasant side effects that works by mimicking a safe supplement that is cheap and doesn't produce side effects at the normal amounts most people reading this require.
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4 comments:
I've just seen your comment on the Protein Power blog, in which you quote a recent study: "But I would bet that those with higher vitamin D levels have slightly higher cognitive ability and probably quicker reaction times, "
I've been supplementing with Vitamin D for the past five or six months and have noticed that my reactions seem faster. (I can't say I've noticed any cognitive improvement, though!) I wondered if it was vitamin D or some other factor, since I've also changed other things about my diet and life style over the same period - notably, complete avoidance of gluten, and a somewhat lower carb intake. Do you know of any research suggesting that vitamin D reduces reaction times?
Serum Parathyroid Hormone Predicts Time to Fall If you look at the data in TABLE 1 you see higher vitamin D3 status, lower Pth = quicker reaction times.
Scholar search for vitamin D cognitive funcion you can see from these headlines there has been wealth of research linking low vitamin d status to worse cognitive function.
It's so sad that so many elderly people remain vitamin d deficient. Not only would they be less likely to fall and break bones (which generally precedes residential nursing home care)but they would also have better cognitive function and be less likely to be depressed.
Hi Ted,
I'm not elderly yet (47 yo), but I do think that Vit D has been beneficial for my balance.
I only go downhill snow skiing once a year or every other year. I learned as an adult, so I'm only an clumsy intermediate level skier, mostly choosing long, cruising and smooth "blue" intermediate runs.
In recent years I was losing confidence about skiing, and was definitely afraid of injuring myself if I fell, so I became extremely cautious (I didn't fall or only fell once usually). And I would have to give up skiing for the day after just a few hours because my legs would become shaky and my balance would falter, so control became more difficult, even on easier runs.
This last March was the first time I had skied in two years. It was also first time since I began supplementing Vit D3 the year before (my 25 (OH)D was about 70 ng/mL at that time). Not only did I feel far more confident about my skiing than I had in years, but I even fell hard several times, but continued skiing without subsequent aches or pains, even the next day. I'm quite sure my balance was better.
Given that my first 25 (OH)D test in Dec '07 was 44 ng/mL after about 6-8 mos of supplementing 2000iU daily, I upped the dose to 5000iU daily to keep my Vit D level up around 70 ng/mL. I suspect before supplementing with Vit D3 my level was much lower, perhaps even deficient, despite living in the San Diego area (D deficiency here is surprisingly common, despite the mild and sunny climate).
Thanks for coming over and leaving a comment I shall be following this blog with interest
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