Free Statins With Fast Food Could Neutralize Heart Risk
Fast food outlets could provide statin drugs free of 1 so that customers can reduce the heart disease dangers of fatty food, researchers at Imperial College London 2 in a new study.
Statins reduce the 3 of unhealthy "LDL" cholesterol in the blood. A wealth of trial data has proven them to be highly effective at 4 a person"s heart attack risk.
In a paper published in the American Journal of Cardiology , Dr. Darrel Francis and colleagues calculate that the reduction in heart attack risk offered by a statin is 5 to offset the increase in heart attack risk from 6 a cheeseburger and drinking a milkshake.
Dr. Francis, from the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College London, who is the senior author of the study, said, "Statins don"t cut out all of the 7 effects of cheeseburgers and French fries. It"s better to avoid fatty food altogether. But we"ve worked out that in terms of your 8 of having a heart attack, taking a statin can reduce your risk to more or less the same 9 as a fast food meal increases it."
"It"s ironic that people are free to take as many unhealthy condiments in fast food outlets as they 10 , but statins, which are beneficial to heart health, have to be prescribed. It 11 sense to make risk-reducing stains available just as easily as the unhealthy condiments that are provided free of charge. It would cost less than 5 pence per 12 —not much different to a sachet of sugar," Dr. Francis said.
When people engage in risky behaviours like driving or smoking, they"re encouraged to take 13 that lower their risk, like 14 a seatbelt or choosing cigarettes with filters. Taking a statin is a rational way of 15 some of the risks of eating a fatty meal.