Should healthy people take cholesterol drugs?

As I was walking through my neighborhood yesterday, I noticed a copy of Parade magazine, opened to a page with a blaring headline that read "The Rise of Hypochondria." Though the article never explains why it uses the term "rise" or that there is one going on causing an increase in people convinced they are ill, it explains the affliction: "For tens of thousands of Americans who suffer from hypochondria, every headache is a brain tumor and a simple cold spells cancer." That was enough to remind me of the recent news that the maker of a cholesterol-reducing drug, Crestor, recently received the government's green light to begin marketing and selling the drug to completely healthy people as a preventative measure.

Now, don't get me wrong. Preventative care is an extremely important issue, and thankfully, many preventative care issues were included in the recent health care bill. The logic is simple: You can pay a little to ward off disease or illness before it happens (or catch it early enough to treat), or you can pay a lot later on down the road. But convincing people who don't have cholesterol problems to take a cholesterol drug elevates the notion of preventative medicine to a new — possibly dangerous — realm. Web MD says that high cholesterol can lead to numerous health issues: "When too much cholesterol is present, plaque (a thick, hard deposit) may form in the body's arteries narrowing the space for blood to flow to the heart. Over time, this buildup causes atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) which can lead to heart disease. When not enough oxygen-carrying blood reaches the heart chest pain — called angina — can result. If the blood supply to a portion of the heart is completely cut off by total blockage of a coronary artery, the result is a heart attack."

But some doctors believe that having healthy people take cholesterol medicine could present its own health risks. According to the New York Times, "Statins have been credited with saving thousands of lives every year with relatively few side effects, and some medical experts endorse the drug's broader use. But for healthy people who would take statins largely as prevention — which would be the case for the new category of Crestor patients — other experts suggest the benefits may not outweigh any side effects.Among the risks raising new concerns, recently published evidence indicates that statins could raise a person's risk of developing Type 2 diabetes by 9 percent."

Since cholesterol (and numerous other health issues) can also be managed with a sensible diet and exercise, it seems much wiser health-wise and financially not to take complex medications until you actually have a need for them.

Photo credit: Pia von Lützau