by Jeffrey Dach MD
In 2012, the FDA added the warning of possible memory loss to statin drug labels. Although the brain is only 2 percent of the body weight, the brain contains about 25% of the total body cholesterol. Since the blood brain barrier (BBB) prevents cholesterol uptake from the bloodstream, the neurons in the brain must make their own cholesterol, called de novo synthesis. Unfortunately, statin drugs easily cross the blood-brain-barrier and block production of cholesterol in the brain. About 70% of the brain cholesterol is found in myelin sheaths of oligodendrocytes, and 30 percent in cell membranes of neurons and brain cells called astrocytes. Cholesterol depletion in the hippocampus “leads to progressive loss of dendritic spines and synapses”. Would you take a drug that prevents your brain from making essential cholesterol?
Finish reading: https://jeffreydachmd.com/2024/07/the-failure-of-cholesterol-lowering-drugs/