Cosy Science presents: Averting comfortable life style crisis-should everyone take statins?

Ancient Egyptian and Hindu cultures identified heart disease and diabetes as diseases associated with affluent lifestyles.

Today, obesity , diabetes type 2 and heart disease have reached epidemic proportions in the Developed World and threaten to overwhelm the already over-stretched health services.

Current scientific knowledge indicates that these problems can be overcome with simple lifestyle changes, but we lack the personal and political will to resolve them.

Could statins come to the rescue? Many senior physicians and specialists in the British Heart Foundation believe that statins should be prescribed to all healthy UK males over 50 as a preventative measure against heart disease.

Some of the many biochemical properties of statins will be described together with alternative strategies involving diet and lifestyle modification.