Dr's Casebook: Make the right health choices rather than just depending on the medicines
I am sure that you will have you heard the expression ‘there is a pill for every ill.’ Well, it is true that modern medicine has advanced to a point where we have drugs for many illnesses, yet we are still a long way from having something for every significant medical condition.
Dr Keith Souter writes: But the point I want to make is that when a drug is prescribed to help prevent something, people should not just depend on the drug. There are often lifestyle changes or modifications that go hand in hand with the drug and which may be even more important.
Take statins, for example. They are the drugs of first choice in reducing cholesterol levels. Indeed, they can reduce the level by up to 40 per cent. They do this by reducing the production of cholesterol in the liver. It is estimated that statins can reduce mortality from heart disease by about one third, so they are invaluable drugs.
However, research indicates that people can get complacent when they are prescribed statins. That is, they may think that they can continue with bad eating habits, in the belief that the statin drug will make everything all right.
Researchers found that there has been a measurable difference over a ten year period. That is, they found that people who took statins in the year of the study consumed more fat and calories than people who took them ten years before. The difference was an increase in calories of ten per cent and a rise of 15 per cent in terms of fat intake. There was no similar increase in fat or calories in a similar group of people who did not take the drugs.
This suggests that there has been an increase in complacency and a belief that if the drug is taken there is no need to reduce fat intake or to exercise more.
Drugs are not the silver bullets that they were thought to be. We face a global challenge with antibiotic resistance because we have been over-reliant on them in the past. A similar thing may happen with statins. They will help to lower cholesterol, but the lifestyle changes you also make by limiting fat intake and taking exercise are also crucial.