On the whole, I love drug companies.  They have created many wonderful drugs that have eased human suffering.  But they are companies, like any other business, which means their aim is to increase sales as much as possible.  So caveat emptor! These thoughts came to my mind when I read about two new studies that claim to validate the wider use of statins in the general population: Two studies published Tuesday lend support to controversial new cholesterol guidelines that could vastly increase the number of Americans advised to take cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins. A study published last year estimated that 56 million American adults, or almost half those age 40 to 75, would be advised to take statins under the new guidelines, compared with 43.2 million, or 37.5 percent, under the old ones. In actuality, about one in four adults of that age now take statins, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The...(Read Full Post)