What are statins

JB Lim to Perry, Cheong
show details 6/28/09


Dear Mr Perry and CK Cheong,

Thank you for your e-mail enquiry on Atorvastatins, statins and other ways of lowering cholesterol.

Atorvastatins a class of drugs called statins, used for lowering blood cholesterol. It is commercially called Liptor, and is produced by a drug company called Pfizer. It also stabilizes plaque formation, and prevents strokes through its anti-inflammatory action.

However, as with all statins group, Atorvastatin can injure the liver, and if you have any active liver disease such as cholestasis, hepatic encephalopathy, hepatitis, and jaundice it is advisable to immediately stop the use of this drug.

What is important is you need to monitor your liver enzymes, initially every month, and if after about 3 months the liver enzymes remain normal, you need to do a liver function test (LFT) at least once every 3 months to ensure that your liver is not damaged by the continuous use of any of the statins group of cholesterol lowering drugs, including Atorvastin you are taking. There are many other statins now available if one group is not suitable for you.

One of the best statins is called Zocor or simvastatin. Your doctor may start you with 10 mg of Zocor once a day, to be taken at night when your liver starts to synthesize its own cholesterol when you are at sleep. If this is not effective, he may increase it to 20 mg to be taken once a day –before sleep.

If your liver enzymes Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) or Alanine transaminase (ALT) are elevated, it may indicate the beginning of liver damage because of the statins. In that case you should immediately stop the medications, and try to lower your cholesterol by more natural and harmless ways, such as stop taking trans-fatty acids found in margarine, shortening, hydrogenated oils. You should also not use coconut oil or use animal fats such as lard, ghee, tallow for cooking, but use polyunsaturated oils such as corn, safflower, soyabean or palm or vegetable oils (except coconut oil) for cooking. The use of olive oil (monosaturate) or Carotino (red palm oil) as a salad dressing can all bring down blood cholesterol levels.

Cut down on all animal fats, and take a lot of fatty fish containing omega 3 oils. The consumption of oats such as Quaker Oats as a porridge for breakfast on a daily basis will all bring down cholesterol levels dramatically.

Instead of using synthetic drugs like the statins - which causes the body to depend on them for life once taken, there is a very safe and very effective Indian herb called Gugulipid, or guggul. This is a natural substance derived from the mukul myrrh tree. The mukul myrrh gives off a sticky resin, from which gugulipid is derived. This extract has been used for thousands of years by the Indians in their Aryuvedic medicine.

Yet another natural medicine equivalent to synthetic simvastatin (Zocor) or Atorvastatin is called red yeast rice (Monascus purpureus) and this is used in Chinese medicine for lowering cholesterol. This yeast is also very effective, and much safer than all those synthetic statins your doctor gave you.

Also, there are many other ways of lowering your blood pressure instead of depending on angiotensin II receptor antagonist – irbesartan which you are also taking. Reducing salt intake, reducing body weight, and reducing stress through meditation, exercise, and qigong, and stop smoking, are among the methods. All these are much better, safer, and more permanent than taking all sorts of drugs.

In fact I give a lot of health talks to the public, the last one on “The Meaning of Health” which was my Keynote Address, and “The Physiological Basis of Weight Management, and Stabilization” were delivered just on Wednesday, the 24 June. It was organized by the Malaysian Senior Scientists Association, and was held at the National Science Centre at Bukit Kiara.

I have sent out notices on all these talks, but unfortunately hardly those to whom I e-mailed came, except strangers and a large crowd of about 390 academic staff from the universities, Ministry of Health and other Government departments plus ordinary people from the public attended.

My youngest brother Professor Dr Lim Yew Cheng was a Professor of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery at the world famous Mayo Clinic in the United States, then at Singapore General Hospital, then a Professor of Cardiac Surgery at the University of Malaya Medical Centre, before going into private practice as a Consultant Cardiovascular Surgeon at Gleneagles Intan Medical Centre at Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur.

If you need any help with your heart or any of your blood vessels you may seek his advice.

JB Lim

AE Consultant to me

Dear Dr Lim,

Thank you so much for the reply, it really help to clear our doubt.
I would like to forward this to all my relatives and friends.

Thank you once again, may you have a Good Weekend.

C K