I can't help but read the online articles about heart health & statins. I wonder what this will do to the mindset of people who think prescription pills just fix everything. Maybe they'll realize that there's a bigger picture to wellness since nutrition & a healthy diet is so important to keep cholesterol in the normal range. My numbers were on the high side of average but no meds thank goodness, I am overdue for a new panel but it will have to wait until our new insurance cards arrive. I have eliminated a lot of hydrogenated oils from my intake and only have fried chicken, a weakness of mine, maybe once every 5 or 6 weeks if not less.

This is a scary excerpt from the article:
"Then, on Monday, Merck and Schering-Plough announced that Vytorin, which combines Zetia with Zocor, had failed to reduce the growth of fatty arterial plaque in a trial of 720 patients. In fact, patients taking Vytorin actually had more plaque growth than those who took Zocor alone."

Too many people around us passed away last year and 2/3rd's of them were due to heart attacks....most of them were around 50 or younger!! It scared my hubby into taking that damn Vytorin. I wanted him to take it short term, just to bring the numbers down and re-test then stop if its within normal ranges but that re-test was from a life insurance bloodwork & our doctor still doesn't have an updated lab since they prescribed it. And its almost a year later, he stopped only because he was getting nauseous from it. Our doc's too busy to even have time to care, but I know he does, especially when he sees us, otherwise I'd change in a "heartbeat". His practice is always jam-packed everytime we go for unexpected visits. When I went right after New Year for our son to get a strep culture it was a 45 minute wait!

Lately my hubby's been taking his Isotonix Custom Cocktail with OPC-3 for at least a week straight!!! OPC's have documented research for helping lower cholestrol and normalizing the blood. The vitamins helped him kick his sinus infection too so I think he's gonna stick to the regimen this time around. He's even left for work and come back to mix it up & grab a to-go-cup so he can drink it down on his way to work. Hooray for that! Just wish he'd take the Omega 3's too but he gets fish-breath and belching which makes it gross to talk to customers. We tried taking them with food, before food and even with the Digestive Enzymes...he's just got a sensitive digestive tract. Oh well... 

Here's a link to one of the articles:

NY Times: New Questions on Treating Cholesterol
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/17/business/17drug.html?em&ex=1200718800&en=76d9c23de0108a70&ei=5087%0A

AND here's a link to MA.com's nutritional research site:
www.marketamericascience.com

OPC-3 specific info:
http://marketamericascience.com/index.cfm?action=shopping.scProduct&storeID=8&prodID=13009

(the hyperlinks aren't working at all for some reason??)