Can Statins Prevent Parkinson’s Disease?

March 13th, 2012

FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda

MONDAY, March 12 (HealthDay News) — People taking popular
cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins may have a slightly lower risk
than others of developing Parkinson’s disease, new research suggests.

This effect may be even more pronounced among people younger than 60,
according to the study published in the March issue of Archives of
Neurology.

However, the risk reduction was modest and may have been due to chance,
the authors said, noting that more research is warranted, especially
because statins can cause adverse side effects.

“There is no clear verdict,” said Dr. Stuart Isaacson, director of the
Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Center of Boca Raton, who was
not involved in the study.

“Right now we don’t have any good evidence that there is anything we
can do to reduce the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease, but research
is ongoing,” added Isaacson, also an associate professor of neurology at
Florida International University‘s Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine
in Miami.

For the study, researchers led by Dr. Xiang Gao, of Brigham and Women’s
Hospital and Harvard University School of Public Health in Boston,
analyzed data on more than 38,000 men and almost 91,000 women enrolled in
the Health Professionals Follow-up Study and the Nurses’ Health Study in
1994.

During 12 years of follow-up, 644 people were diagnosed with
Parkinson’s disease. People taking cholesterol-lowering drugs, especially
those younger than 60, were less likely to develop the neurological
disorder than those not using cholesterol drugs, the researchers
found.

Nearly one million people in the United States have Parkinson’s
disease, a chronic and progressive movement disorder, and no one knows
what causes it.

The researchers can’t say exactly how — or even if — statins reduce
the risk of Parkinson’s. It’s thought these drugs may have potent
anti-inflammatory effects, which could protect the brain.

The study had some limitations, the authors acknowledged. For example,
only about 70 percent of people who were taking drugs to lower cholesterol
were actually on statins at the study’s start.

Dr. Roy Alcalay, an assistant professor of neurology at Columbia
University Medical Center in New York City, said it is way too early to
say that statins lower risk for Parkinson’s disease. “This is a promising
avenue for future research,” said Alcalay, an advisor for the Parkinson’s
Disease Foundation.

But there is some good news, he added. The data are compelling evidence
that statins are not detrimental for people with or at risk of Parkinson’s
disease, he said. There was a concern that statins could be harmful as
they might lower the level of coenzyme Q10 in the blood. Co-Q10, an
antioxidant, is thought to have benefits for people with Parkinson’s
disease.

“If you need to be on statins for your heart, it is not going to
increase your risk for Parkinson’s,” Alcalay said.

More information

Learn more about Parkinson’s disease and its symptoms at the Parkinson’s Disease
Foundation.