From: Natural News
Statin drugs can reduce soaring cholesterol levels, according to countless ads touting these supposed “wonder” drugs, that means they are brimming with health benefits because they lower the risk of cardiovascular disease. The problem is a host of side effects from eye problems and muscle pain to heart arrhythmias and liver disorders have been linked to these widely prescribed medications. Now comes research by an Iowa State University scientist that strongly suggests statins also could be robbing brains of thinking power and memory by doing exactly what they are supposed to do — reduce cholesterol.
It turns out that statins inhibit not only the liver from making cholesterol but may also block the brain from making cholesterol. That’s a serious consequence, according to Yeon-Kyun Shin, a biophysics professor in the department of biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology at Iowa State, because cholesterol is vital for healthy and optimum brain function. “If you deprive cholesterol from the brain, then you directly affect the machinery that triggers the release of neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters affect the data-processing and memory functions. In other words, how smart you are and how well you remember things,” said Dr. Shin in a statement to the media.
In a study published in the February issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Dr. Shin and colleagues tested the activity of the neurotransmitter-release processes of brain cells without cholesterol present to see how well they functioned. Then cholesterol was placed in the system and the scientists measured the transmitter function again. The result? Cholesterol increased the neurotransmitter function by five times.
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