Hi Simon,
Of course - I should be very clear that I am not medically trained - I do have a Phd in chemistry and spent 5 years doing chemistry research and so am very used to reading academic papers and , I think, assessing whether the claims made in them are ‘scientifically’ robust or not.
The key arguments made by the members of THINCS (all highly qualified in the field of medical research and many of them leading cardiologists) are;
- As you say , Cholesterol is key in many other biochemical processes and is a key part of cellular membranes. This is why the liver creates it , as it does many other key nutrients for the body. Reducing the levels of lipids ( the little packets that carry cholesterol esters around our blood) too low, interferes with these other processes and so harms health. I came across several articles published by the BMJ that confirmed this overall finding that below a certain level of lipids in the blood , all cause mortality actually starts to rise. (One study, referenced on teh thincs.org site looked at what was causing the additional deaths in the people with ‘very low’ lipid levels and made some very interesting findings …
a) If you exclude the people who had used statins to reduce their lipid levels then there was no overall increase in mortality at the ‘very low’ lipid levels.
b) There appeared to be a correlation to statin use and an increase in deaths from cancer (am now starting to read any published literature connecting statins to cancer risks).
2
The early research done that linked lipid levels to atherosclerosis does not stand up to today’s standards of showing a statistically significant causal relationship. i.e. there is not a proven link between lipid levels and atherosclerosis.
3
Further to 2 above, there has never been a believable mechanism put forward for how lipid levels create atherosclerotic plaques.(My research was in the field of chemical mechanisms and so I was particularly interested in this area). The currently proposed mechanism described ldl molecules penetrating the lining of the artery and depositing cholesterol there , that forms the plaques. These is no description of how they do this - i.e. how do they get between the cells forming the lining of your artery . An interesting observation is then made that the way the ebola virus kills people is by breaking down the connections between the cells in the lining of blood vessels and then the infected person bleeds to death - yet somehow the ldl molecules do this in perfectly ‘healthy’ people.
4
Whilst research has shown that there is indeed cholesterol in aterosclerotic plaques, this is in the form of cholesterol crystals. The cholesterol that is carried around inside lipid molecules is cholesterol esters - you cannot make cholesterol crystals from cholesterol esters, you need pure cholesterol. The current book I’m reading ‘the clot thickens’ , proposes a mechanism in which atherosclerotic plaques are formed from the remains of blood clots (blood cells contain cholesterol in their ‘pure’ form not the esterified form). This book proposes a mechanism whereby damage to the vascular wall causes blood clots to form and the plaques are formed from the remains of repeated blood clot formation. This also explains things like the correlation between smoking (and mining) and atherosclerosis - nano particles breathed into the lungs get into the blood and cause damage to the lining of the arteries etc. etc.
5
a number of the ‘thincs’ members have argued that statins do indeed provide some protection against atherosclerosis , but that this is because they have a mild anticoagulant property and so prevent the clots that they believe are the real cause of atherosclerosis and has nothing to do with them lowering the levels of lipids in the blood.
The history behind the development of the diet- cholesterol- lipids- atherosclerosis theory is also fascinating - much of it sponsored by food companies that put high levels of sugar into our food (sugar spikes in the blood have been shown to cause damage to the linings of the blood vessels , hence the link between diabetes and atherosclerosis) or the companies that make billions from the sale of statins.
I checked the NHS website yesterday and statin prescriptions cost the NHS £500million a year. Given the chronic underfunding we have within the NHS, I’m amazed that someone hasn’t done a wide review of the literature and research to see if there is a solid, statistically reliable link between the use of statins and increase in healthy lifespan,
Apologies, as i said, i’m not medically trained, but am fascinated by the chemistry of what is going on in our bodies and after having had a TIA following a diagnosis of aFib, but being told i didn’t need to go on anticoagulants ( as I don’t smoke , was very fit and 'slim (was being the operative word 
)to prevent strokes… I’ve lost some faith in the medical establishment and decided to make sure i fully understood and ‘believed’ the logic for me now taking statins
