According to the Cleveland Clinic, more than 92 million Americans take statins. You can bet all of them are hoping that will protect them from having an adverse cardiovascular event, such as heart attack, stroke, heart failure, peripheral vascular disease, or A-fib.
But for people who’ve already had a heart attack or who have significantly blocked arteries and are at a high risk of a heart attack, it turns out statins alone don't offer maximum protection.
A meta-study in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings looked at more than 100,000 patients who were taking a high-dose statin in combination with another medication called an ezetimibe (such as Zetia), which lowers LDL cholesterol by preventing it from being absorbed in the small intestine. They found that taking the two medications together could prevent thousands of deaths annually.
The combination therapy reduces LDL levels by an extra 13 mg/dL compared to statins alone, and reduces the risk of death from cardiovascular disease by an additional 16%, stroke by an additional 17%, and a combination of those major adverse events by another 18%.
So what's not to love?
You can also lower your LDL cholesterol and reduce your cardio risks by adopting LongevityPlaybook's five pillars of well-being:
• Plant-based diet
• Stress management
• Habits that promote brain health
• Regular aerobic and strength-building exercise
• Healthy sleep routine
It may also be smart to add newly validated treatments such as Therapeutic Plasma Exchange.