X-Message-Number: 16669 From: Date: Sun, 24 Jun 2001 18:11:38 EDT Subject: Kryos News #7 KRYOS NEWS #7 FACILITY PROGRESS All of the critical infrastructure is now in place in the new facility and we are in the long, grinding process of setting up and trying to organize 4,000 square feet of equipment and supplies into a 2,000 square foot space. It's going better than expected and we are actually modestly ahead of schedule. we will know more on when we able to offer vitrification after we complete the move in and our discussions with 21st Century Medicine. THIS MAY VERY WELL SAVE YOUR LIFE by Mike Darwin Doug Skrecky and others have repeatedly pointed out the benefits of the statins; a class of drugs developed to lower LDL or "bad" cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart disease. About two years ago the statins caught my attention in a most unusual way: two of the largest mortuary chains in US were experiencing economic difficulties due an unexpectedly low incidence of death. In other words, something had begun squaring the curve of human life expectancy in the US. In still other words, something was very likely extending human lifespan. If it was a drug, then it could well be the first drug proven to extend human mean lifespan and, just possibly might be working to extend maximum lifespan as well. A quick look at the statistics indicated that the biggest reason for the drop in death rates was approximately a 30% decrease in cardiovascular mortality (stroke and heart attack) over a period of about 5 years. That is unprecedented. However, over the following year as I carefully looked at all-cause mortality it became apparent that it had decreased as well. Given the growing incidence of obesity and adult onset diabetes among the younger US population I found the fact that overall mortality had decreased quite surprising. Over the past year a possible reason for this has become clearer: people taking statin drugs are not just experiencing dramatic reductions in heart disease, they are experiencing the following reductions in other major causes of mortality and morbidity: 30% reduction in the incidence of adult onset (Type II) diabetes in statin users over pair matched controls. 60% reduction in osteoporosis-related fractures in statin users over pair matched controls. A still unquantified reduction the incidence of Alzheimer's disease which has been put at between 30% and 70% of comparable non-statin users. A large decrease in circulating levels of C-reactive protein which is a pro-inflammatory protein implicated not only in heart disease, but in stroke, some forms of cancer, and possible some dementias. Decreased overall age-associated cognitive decline (independent of Alzheimer's) in people using statins. The NIH has recently decided that at least three times as many Americans should be receiving statin therapy than currently are doing so. The acceptable lower limits on LDL cholesterol level and LDL/HDH ratio were decreased to encourage physicians to put more patients on statins and allow patients to collect from their health insurers for statin therapy. Not surprisingly, even patients with low-normal LDL cholesterol levels and good LDL/HDL ratios who take statins also experience a marked reduction in the incidence of heart attack and stroke, although numbers here are less definitive. Unfortunately, statins aren't for everyone. And, for some of us, finding one we can tolerate can be daunting. I'd like to share my personal experience here. Not surprisingly I've decided that statin therapy is appropriate for me. I have a bad family history of heart disease and while my parents are still alive at age 80, my father had life threatening systemic arteriosclerosis 15 years ago and was given only a year or two to live. He had severe multiple vessel coronary artery disease and femoral and popliteal artery atherosclerosis so bad he could not walk across the room without the pain of intermittent claudication. At that time I persuaded him to go on a modified Pritkin diet (including essential fatty acids that were likely to decrease cancer incidence and depression) and begin taking 200 mg/day of CoQ10. I also persuaded both of my parents to begin regular exercise. I also got my father to ostensibly give up his 50 plus year habit of smoking 3 packs a day of Camel cigarettes each day. Both my parents went on this diet at that time and began a program of walking at the local shopping mall. Shortly after they began this program I urged both of them to start on statin therapy despite the fact that my father's cholesterol has always been below 200 mg/dl with good HDL/LDL ratios. His sisters and brothers also had low cholestrerols: both sisters died of heart disease: one in her mid 50s the other in her mid 60's and only one of his 2 brothers escaped past 60. My father worked up to walking two miles a day two years ago. He is now down to one mile a day and has had some return of intermittent claudication. He started smoking a few cigarettes a day a few years ago and I really can't fault him. Like I told him at the time he first got sick: "Hey, it's your life, and a life that is torture isn't worth living. I can't tell how important tobacco is to you and I wouldn't try to guess. I will tell you though that if you keep smoking you aren't going to live very much longer. Either way you decide I'll understand." And I meant it. Most of my paternal cousins have had angioplasty or bypass; some are younger than me; the youngest is 38! None are obese and the one that smokes is the only one who hasn't had coronary artery disease diagnosed yet! So, statins made good sense in my case not just as theoretical multifactorial life extension drugs, but as a treatment for a very real risk. My LDL cholesterol sits around 260 to 280 on a normal diet. I've kept it low only by means of pretty unpleasant fat restriction which has gotten harder to adhere to as I've gotten older. So, I looked around and decided that the statin with the most evidence of benefit was Mevacor (lovastatin). I realized that this was very likely due to the facts that it was among the oldest of statins and that its manufacturer, MSD, had spent many millions of dollars on solid randomized clinical trials to validate its effectiveness. A close second was Prevastatin (Prevacor). Unfortunately, both of these drugs caused intense itching at my forehead, my armpits and my groin. I asked Steve Harris, M.D. to suggest a statin that was as structurally dissimilar to these two as he could. He suggested Lescol and I tried it. Bingo! No itching and a 50 reduction in my LDL cholesterol with only modest dietary restrictions. A side benefit was a noticeable improvement in chronic pain in my shoulder, my legs and a dramatic improvement in my long running battle with gingivitis. Gingivitis due to periodontal disease is a major source of C-reactive protein. Possibly one wise decision my father made (against my strenuous recommendations at the time) was to have all of his perfectly healthy teeth pulled when he was in his early 50's due to refractory gum disease. The take home message here is basic: if you aren't on a statin and are at risk for heart disease you should give strong consideration to going on one. If you are taking speculative and un-validated (in humans) drugs to extend your lifespan you may want to reconsider this strategy and start taking a statin instead. Statins are not risk free and not everyone can take them. While I had no rise liver enzymes despite the itching I experienced, many people do experience an increase in liver enzymes (this is a marker of liver cell injury). If you do take statins and you use acetaminophen (Tylenol or any of its relatives) you should either stop, or take 500 mg of N-acetyl L-cysteine (NAC) with each 1,000 mg dose of acetaminophen you take. Acetamiophen is markedly toxic to the liver because it is metabolized into potent free radicals by the hepatocytes. This radical injury can be prevented by administration of NAC up to even a few hours after the ingestion of acetaminophen. Indeed "rescue" of "Tylenol suicides" is done using large doses of oral and/or IV NAC. And keep in mind that acetaminophen is in lots of products: cough syrups, NyQuil (and its analogs), headache medicines, and over the counter medicines for menstrual dysphoria and cramps. The first true life extension drug for human may be here. I urge you to talk with your physician about whether a statin may be right for you. -------------------------- There are many scientific references to support each point above. I have not included them for this audience because the best way for you to investigate these claims and the qualifications on them is to do the search yourself. A Goggle, AltaVista, GoFor or other similarly capable search engine using they words statins + osteoporosis, Alzheimer's, diabetes, side effects, etc., will yield a plethora of hits. There will even be sites shown that claim that statins kill and you shouldn't take them at all. Any attempt I make at sifting these computer accessible sites, including peer-reviewed National Library of Medicine Journal abstracts would consume far too much space here and be subject to charges of bias. Perhaps Doug Skrecky is the man to do this? ------------------------ END OF KRYOS NEWS Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=16669