In my last column I wrote that heart attacks killed over half of us and suggested some of the things you could do to see how at risk you were and what you could do to lower the odds. Heart attack is the numero uno killer and stokes are No. 3. It is therefore interesting to note that in the last two weeks comes good news of a single “Polypill” that claims it can cut deaths by heart attack and stroke by over 80%.
Researchers in Britain say a “polypill” consisting of aspirin, folic acid and various drugs cuts heart attack and strokes by over 80 %. The “polypill”, which includes drugs to lower cholesterol and blood pressure, “would help prevent disease in the Western world more than any other single treatment”, the researchers wrote in the current issue of the British Medical Journal. It would largely prevent stoke and heart disease if taken daily by people with cardiovascular problems and those over age 55, they said.
Professor Nicholas Wald of the Wolfson Institute of Preventative Medicine in London and Malcolm Law of the University of Auckland in New Zealand set out to determine what combination of drugs and vitamins would prevent cardiovascular disease with the fewest side effects. Wald and Law looked at data from 750 trials involving 400,000 people. They came up with a pill containing six active ingredients - aspirin, folic acid, a statin cholesterol-lowering drug and three drugs to lower blood pressure at half the normal dose.
The results showed such a “polypill” would prevent 80% of heart attacks and 88% of strokes. Each part of the pill would reduce one of four cardiovascular risk factors, and about one in three people would directly benefit, with each gaining 11 - 12 years of life without heart attack or stroke. The pill could be taken without the need for a medical examination or any individual measurement of risk factors.
“ It is time to end the idea that risk factors need to be measured and treated individually”, said Wald and Law.
“ Instead it should be recognised that in Western society the risk factors are high in us all, so everyone is at risk; that the diseases they cause are common and often fatal; and that there is much to gain and little to lose by the widespread use of these drugs”, they wrote.
Trials of the “Polypill” are now planned to see if the combination is safe and effective, but these could take several years - so don’t hold your breath.
Great News!
But What Took You So Long....?
On the face of it this is wonderful news. So why am I less than overwhelmed?
Well first off, there is no new science involved with the “polypill”. All the researchers have actually done is to say that if you combine these six substances which are known to reduce cholesterol, homocysteine and blood pressure and give it to everyone over age 55 you will reduce the number of heart attacks and strokes by over 80%.
Great! But why, you might well ask, did it take medical science so many decades to come up with an idea as simple as combining the drugs and supplements which prevent a disease? You don’t have to be a brain surgeon to think of that, now do you?
Ah, but it isn’t as simple as that.........
Yes, medically speaking something like this could have been done years ago and saved countless lives. To date, however, the politics of medicine and big business have combined to prevent it. Does the worldwide press coverage given to this new research now mean things are about to change? It would be nice to think so, but I wouldn’t bet on it.
As the researchers themselves point out, it’s going to take quite a few years before any such “polypill’ hits the streets and there’s a strong possibility that it never will. After all the time it takes to prove the pill works and is safe, the makers will have to get up to four different pharmaceutical companies to agree to work together. Bear in mind the pill involves the use one statin drug and three hypertensive drugs. The major drug companies may reach marketing deals with one another but it would be a historical first for four of them to work together for the greater good in this way. That is not the way they make money. Even less likely is the idea that they would combine a drug of theirs with cheap unpatented substances like aspirin and folic acid. In brief, a “polypill” like this that cuts strokes and heart attacks by over 80% is an anathema. It threatens every thing they stand for.
If you didn’t know it already, it’s time you did: drug companies do not get rich by curing people, they get fat by treating symptoms and “managing” disease. If heart attacks and strokes were really cut by 80% a lot of them would be out of business. And, while it may be true that changes in lifestyle would also cut heart attacks and strokes by 80%, they don’t worry about that because they know most of us won’t change our habits much. What does bother them though, is the use of natural dietary supplements, which not only work, but are cheap and unpatentable. That is why there is a concerted campaign to rubbish their efficacy and to restrict their potency and availability.
Toward a Drugged Population?
Another aspect of the “polypill” that deserves some scrutiny is the idea that it should be given as a matter of course to everybody over the age of 55. Do we really want to give literally billions of people a cocktail of four different drugs without any assessment of whether or not they need it, let alone the possibility of adverse side effects? If you do not have elevated cholesterol you are unlikely to need a statin drug. If you do not have high blood pressure you really do not need the three anti-hypertensive drugs included in the polypill.
Call me cynical if you like, but could this be why after decades of refusing to contemplate anything so obvious as a “polypill” the idea is being trumpeted across the world’s press as the latest thing in medical sliced bread? What we are looking at here is the routine prescription of medication to people, whether they have been shown to need it or not, based on age and demographic risk factors. That may be great in theory, and it certainly is great for the bottom line of the drug majors, but will it do more good than harm? We really would be heading into uncharted territory. All too often - ten, twenty years down the pike we are told that the drug that was supposed to save so many lives is actually damaging, even killing people.
Outside the Box
When it comes to your health you need to do some thinking outside the box. The way the world is going pretty soon only the very rich will be able to afford medical insurance and top line treatment. The rest of us had better get used to thinking preventatively because pretty soon that’s all we will be able to afford. You need to inform yourself and act accordingly. Your first line of defence is not to get sick and not get the degenerative conditions of old age before your time. You do this by adopting a healthy life style and by using dietary supplements. As and when you do get sick you look at the best ways to treat the condition, whether that be allopathic, alternative methods or a combination.
It isn’t hard to inform yourself but it is not an exact science, there are no easy answers and you will have to work out over time what works for you. There is so much information out there it’ll make your head spin at first but it becomes clearer as you understand the basics of how it all works.
Here are some pointers:
Dietary supplements are key to preventing and treating disease, as well as slowing down aging. But alas, most of the stuff you are sold will do you no good because it really is no good or it is not in a large enough dose to do you any good. Do your research and find the best formulations.
Medication: avoid drugs if possible but sometimes you will need them. You should be in a position to assess it yourself and take a view whether your doctor really knows the options. If you are told you have to keep taking a drug for the rest of your life, do not take that as gospel. It may be true, but more often it is not. Start researching other means of treatment.
Get a regular blood test every year and take some time finding out what tests you want included. It can save your life.
Pick your doctor or doctors with care. Unfortunately in the last 50 years the majority of physicians have been co-opted by the drug companies. It has become second nature for them to think of drugs and surgery as the only options. The whole of the medical system supports such an approach and it is hard for them to think differently.
Alternative medicine: beware putting all your eggs in this basket. Very few of these people are qualified physicians and however expert they will only see part of the picture. Many practitioners are well-meaning but of limited competence, some have no business treating people at all, others are charlatans. However good health care practitioners of one sort or another can be enormously helpful, but assess them carefully and always consult an MD as well. The best thing you can do is find an MD who practices “integrative” medicine, that is one who employs all modalities to treat the body as a whole and not just specific symptoms.
Lastly, take responsibility for your health and don’t abdicate it to your doctors. Time has shown us there are few “magic bullets” out there. However tempting it is to believe in a “polypill” the truth is almost certainly more complicated than you’d like. Don’t believe all you’re told either. The drug majors are immensely powerful and persuasive. It is the most profitable business in the world. The people who run it are both saviours and killers, but one thing they are above all - and that is businessmen. To them you are a statistic. Remember that and plot your own course.
