Chocolate or Statin?

A news study from British Medical Journal found that those who eat the most chocolate on a regular basis reduce their relative risk for heart disease by one-third. The study did not receive funding from chocolate manufacturers. Analysis of 114,009 people found that people who ate the most chocolate could reduce their risk of heart disease by as much as 37 percent, their risk of diabetes by 31 percent and their risk of stroke by 29 percent, compared with those who ate the least chocolate. Chocolate had no effect on heart failure risk.

However, the study did not say how much chocolate confers health benefits. There was no way of telling how much chocolate was eaten by those who consumed the most of it. The study compared people who consumed chocolate more than once a week with those who ate it less often. The researchers were also unclear if dark, milk or even white chocolate were eaten,

Long-term results of the Anglo-Scandinavian Cardiac Outcomes--Lipid-Lowering Arm (ASCOT-LLA) study, eight years after the trial officially stopped, showed that treatment with 10 mg of atorvastatin reduced all-cause mortality compared with placebo, mainly through a reduction in noncardiovascular deaths. The European Heart Journal study observed that reductions in the risk of death from respiratory illness and infection contributed to the overall reduction in all-cause mortality. Steve - am I the only one a bit miffed here. I was the under the impression that statins were supposed to be taken to reduce cardiac risk. There are plenty of other therapies we can use to reduce respiratory and infection risk. The lead researcher was quoted saying, "I would never advocate atorvastatin to young people on the basis of these findings."

An editorial that accompanies the published study, said that the introduction of statins into primary prevention is a serious decision considering that asymptomatic patients would be advised to take a drug for the rest of their lives and the only treatment benefit would be that "nothing happens. Moreover, there is little long-term safety data.