The threshold for how much cholesterol is bad has been lowered over the years. Is it a mission to save lives or a conspiracy to sell more drugs?
When Radhika Nayyar, 47, at last agreed to take drugs to lower her cholesterol level, her cardiologist felt he had scored a mini victory. For months, the good doctor had tried to persuade her to go on a dosage of statins but she stoutly refused to do so. As the world’s largest selling drugs, statins have convinced millions of their power to reduce cholesterol and thereby the risk of heart attacks, but Nayyar is one of those other millions who believe them to be at best pills of dubious credibility and at worst, a tool of corporate conspiracy against humanity.
“When I was a medical student 25 years back, I was told that 150 (LDL) to 250 (total cholesterol, or TC) was all right,” says Dr. Bimal Chajjer, director, Science and Art of Living, an organisation that promotes treatment of heart disease through lifestyle changes. “Then they reduced it to 130 by 220 about 20 years back. Fifteen years ago, they found that 220 is also bad and made it 200. Now very recently, European Community of Cardiology revised it to 180 mg/dl as the highest. Now the figures are 130 (LDL) - 180 (TC). And I am expecting it to be even less than 130 for my patients.”
Dilemma 4: Can I manage with diet and lifestyle changes?
In healthy individuals, a proper diet and adequate exercise would suffice to keep cholesterol under check. But in most others, a sound lifestyle is just the first step in preventing heart attacks. “Dietary change and dietary habits are very difficult to maintain. Even when they are maintained in most individuals, they will cause 5 percent and maximum 7-10 percent cholesterol reduction and often that’s not enough,” says Dr. Rifai.
(This story appears in the 25 September, 2009 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)