Which Statin Would You Like With Your Burger?
17 CommentsBy Ed Silverman // August 13th, 2010 // 8:47 am
People have joked about this for awhile - go to your local McDonald’s or ice cream shop and order a Lipitor with a burger or milkshake. Supposedly, you would get the best of both worlds. Now, though, a group of researchers is actively arguing that such an approach to reducing cholesterol should be pursued.
In an editorial in the American Journal of Cardiology, they maintain fast-food outlets could provide statins free of charge, so that customers can neutralize the dangers of fatty foods. They reached this conclusion by calculating that the reduction in cardiovascular risk offered by a statin is enough to offset the increase in heart attack risk from eating a cheeseburger and a milkshake.
“It’s ironic that people are free to take as many unhealthy condiments in fast food outlets as they like, but statins, which are beneficial to heart health, have to be prescribed,” says Darrel Francis of the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College London, in a statement.
“It makes sense to make risk-reducing supplements available just as easily as the unhealthy condiments that are provided free of charge. It would cost less than 5 pence per customer - not much different to a sachet of ketchup,” he continues. “When people engage in risky behaviors like driving or smoking, they’re encouraged to take measures that minimize their risk, like wearing a seatbelt or choosing cigarettes with filters. Taking a statin is a rational way of lowering some of the risks of eating a fatty meal.” (Five pence, by the way, is worth pennies).
Mind you that the researchers are based in the UK, where simvastatin is available in low 10mg doses on an over-the-counter basis at pharmacies without a prescription. Working out the details in the US would require, among other things, FDA approval of over-the-counter statins. And, of course, fast-food outlets would have to cooperate. Most likely, they would want to charge for the pills. In fact, this may well become a huge profit center for fast-food chains looking to, ahem, fatten their profits.
harpy
why not install treadmills and make them burn off all the calories they’re about to consume?
Justice in MI
I had the same concept–Place the cheeseburger at the top of four flights of stairs.
I assume there will also be free McLab tests.
BruceW
Is this a joke? Please tell me it’s a joke.
pharmavet
Did they control for the number of color TV’s in the household? I bet not. It would be more interesting to line up some “Johnny-On-The-Spot outhousses in the Wendy’s parking lot, give them a dose of Xenical with their Triple Baconator, and watch them run to the WC before the onset of expolosive steatorrhea (aka pizza oil stools). They would also get the aerobic benefit from the sprint, as well as raise their HDL’s.
Truth
One word - ridiculous!
Patriot
I love this part:
“It’s ironic that people are free to take as many unhealthy condiments in fast food outlets as they like, but statins, which are beneficial to heart health, have to be prescribed” …
Give Me Lipitor or Give Me Death!!!
God Bless Avandia!!!
Vioxx what you can do for your country!!!
Dan Abshear
Conceptually, this is not a bad idea. Statins were once considered to be direct to consumer, anyway. But if this were to be done, the statin probably be should one with minimal efficacy, such as Lescol.
justmeint
Ladies and Gentlemen, allow us to announce a new facet of one stop shopping.
Gone are the days when a doctor will advise you to make life style changes to improve your health, instead you will be able to order your Lipitor with a side of Burger and Fries!
Talk about a new marketing ploy! Drug reps will now be spending time at your favourite fast food chains and take-away stores, pushing their ‘quick fix’ drugs to medically uneducated burger ‘flippers’ and salt shaker fillers.
http://just-me-in-t-health.blogspot.com/2010/08/one-stop-shopping.html
Justice in MI
I think only Lipitor and Crestor have been shown to have any benefit re: primary prevention, and even then only in high risk people. And even then it is marginal at best as measured by NNT.
So the whole concept, besides being loony, has no scientific foundation.
JaT
Cool! This means that anyone taking daily statin doses can stop and only take one when they eat a big fatty meal.
Kind of like the Morning After pill.
pharmavet
Actually nothing has to be done. Our water supplies are already contaminated with cholesterol-lowering medications, as well as other drugs. See below:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23503485/
JaT
I’m finally prepared to do my part to remedy the water situation, pharmavet.
I’ve come to the conclusion that taking pharmaceuticals is like staying in a bad relationship. It might be scary to leave or easier to stay, but eventually you make the decision in earnest and take your leave. This is where I am now.
All FDA had to do was tighten the criteria for the benefit of people with a NTI (we’re not so uncommon at a reported 30-40%). Further, they could have insisted that drugs remain as they were when they were approved under scrutiny (or at least required better testing on approving sNDAs) - which apparently isn’t going to happen either.
From my perspective that is equal to their inability or lack of desire to protect me.
My current lot of phenytoin is pure crap - hard fast entry followed by dropping me like a rock hours before my next dose - to the extent that there’s no point in continuing them. Seizure control, my butt.
As Chef Ramsay would say…
IT’S NOT GOOD ENOUGH!
When it was good enough they changed it.
It was a bit of an ironic joke when we were told Dilantin was the same except for the appearance (not true btw). When we were begging for them to change it back. And when we knew it would never be changed back - except maybe for the appearance.
Anyway, maybe all of the AEDs in the water supply will make quitting this garbage easier.
I quit, and I’ll be as careful as possible because I happen to plan to be around for awhile.
How’s that for non-compliant? If it goes badly then it’ll be on me. If I stayed on them and seized to my death, well, they would claim I was probably non-compliant and it would still be on me. And so it goes…
Justice in MI
Great find, Vet. This opens up the possibility of aqua-pharma tourism, kind of like the ways people used to “take the waters” at various spas in Europe.
Depending on their condition , people could travel to New Jersey, San Francisco, L.A., etc..
pharmavet
Good idea, Jim. Some years ago, Dr. Timothy Leary thought that we could promote world peace by dropping LSD in the water supply. At least with the hallucinogen, we would actually know what was in the water supply instead of the pharmaceutical soup that’s out there today.
likeitis
Wow! The possibilities are mind-boggling!
How about:
Optional glucose pills with diet coke?
Anthelmintic medicines with *natural* salads?
Anti-depressant medicines (with optional type 2 diabetes pills) for death-wish bloggers?
Benedict Lancier
Yep and that’s good for obesity too: Acomplipitor! You’re no fat anymore and wealthy.
“We have chosen the Quarter Pounder® because it is a product that is universally known”
I’m hungry now!!
DenisLondon
This was - by far - the funniest story I ever heard!
Probably why I never continued my science degree… Real scientists are way too mad for me!