Go to http://bit.ly/1aXYJPh to find a review by Zoe Harcombe of James & Hannah Yoseph's book, How statin drugs really lower cholesterol: and kill you one cell at a time
She summarises the part of the book relating to the how statins work in the body:
Every cell needs sustenance. The cell says “I’m hungry” and makes a protein called “reductase.” Reductase activates something called the mevalonate pathway. Mevalonate is cell food just as glucose is brain food. Mevalonate is utterly vital for the life of every cell in the human body.
The Yoseph’s put it this way: “Mevalonate is the essence of cell renewal. In all cells, mevalonate travels down the mevalonate pathway to make cholesterol and isoprenoids (five-carbon molecules). Both stimulate the cell to grow, replicate its DNA and divide into two cells. This is the ‘cell cycle’. This is life.”
Cell renewal is continuous throughout the body – cells lining the gut are turned over every 10 hours to 5 days; skin cells are recycled every two weeks; liver cells are replaced every 300-500 days and bone cells last a decade.
Without the cholesterol and isoprenoids made by the mevalonate pathway, none of this cell rejuvenation happens. Isoprenoids make our cells replicate and renew. Without mevalonate and without isoprenoids, cells age and die. They cannot be replaced.
CoQ10 is an isoprenoid. CoQ10 is vital for cell energy. Heme-A is an isoprenoid. Heme-A is vital for cell energy and drug metabolism. Isopentenyl adenine is an isoprenoid. Don’t worry about the names in all of this – just remember that Isopentenyl adenine is vital for DNA replication. DNA is the blueprint of every cell. Before a cell divides, it replicates its DNA and the new cell can be formed from the same blueprint. There are other vital isoprenoids – all are stopped from functioning by the disruption of the mevalonate pathway.
Under ADNO on this website you will find a summary of research as to how Arginine has been matched against statins (e.g. Lovastin - Boger et al, "Circulation", 96 (1997), 1282-1290). In the book "Reverse Heart Disease Now"Dr Stephen T. Sinatra et al, write (pages 110-111), "Moreover, they found that L-arginine had a much greater effect than Mevacor, a popular statin drug, which actually increased endothelial free radical activity. Other studies have shown that L-arginine:
* Reduces endothelial dysfunction irrespective of the cause
*Provides antioxidant effect
*Blocks LDL oxidation
* Blocks platelet clumping and white cell adhesion to the vascular wall
*Decreases angina frequency and nitroglycerin need
*Improves outcome following hear attack
*Improves functional status in patients with coronary and/or lower extremity vascular blockages."
