By Dr. John Briffa
The Cholesterol Truth
Excerpts:
The Cholesterol Treatment Trialists (CTT) is a UK-based collaboration of doctors and researchers who, on the whole, push for aggressive treatment of cholesterol to low levels. I don’t think it would misrepresent the CTT’s view to say that, as far as supposedly unhealthy ‘LDL-cholesterol’ levels are concerned, ‘the lower the better’. However, it has been pointed out in the past, that there are at least some conflicts of interest within the CTT group that might bias its opinion. See here for a previous blog post relevant to this issue.
Some doctors and researchers have been critical of the CTT’s stance. Recently, for instance, a group from the Mike Rosenbloom Laboratory for Cardiovascular Research, at McGill University Health Centre in Quebec, Canada, published an article in the Journal of Clinical Lipidology, which raised a number of issues regarding the evidence for the CTT’s stance [1]. The Canadian group focused on five studies [2-6] which, earlier this year, the CTT used to support its recommendations for intensive statin therapy. These five studies were cited as part of a larger review published earlier this year in the Lancet medical journal [7]. According to the Canadian group, the body of evidence used by the CTT has a number of weaknesses and inconsistencies, which have not been previously brought to the fore and should be recognised. It’s good to see, I think, that some doctors and researchers are prepared to question the general advice given to us to drive cholesterol to ever-lower levels, and point out that the evidence for this position is on shakier ground than some would have us believe it to be.
Read the full article and comment here: http://www.thecholesteroltruth.com/study-review-questions-aggressive-cholesterol-90280
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