If you're taking statins to lower your cholesterol, your drugs are about to get a lot cheaper. But this isn't a good thing.

Two very popular statin drugs are about to go off patent. Pravachol and Zocor will lose patent protection in April and June respectively. Much cheaper generic versions will become available almost instantly. Your average daily cost could plummet from a staggering $5 per day to perhaps just $1. And insurance co-pays could fall from $75 per month to just $5 per month.

While Big Pharma will lose profits on each pill, you can be sure the companies will try to make up for it in volume. As the costs drop, more people will now buy the pills.  The next step for Big Pharma will be to persuade the FDA to permit statin sales over-the-counter without a prescription. That spells a disaster, since the already negligent check and balance of your prescribing doctor will be gone altogether.

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Please don't be misled by lower prices. Statins have many problems associated with them, and a lower price will only make them worse.

The most common problem with statins is they cause a deficiency of CoQ10. This leads to congestive heart failure and liver derangement. But that's just the start.

A growing problem with statins is they also lead to an elevated risk of brain dysfunction and dementia. I recently learned that the same cholesterol-making enzyme in your liver, which is knocked out by statins, also exists in your brain. Why? Because 25% of the cholesterol in your body is located in your brain. In fact, your brain actually makes cholesterol. Your brain uses cholesterol stay in top working order and to maintain a sharp memory. But statins can't tell the difference between a liver enzyme and a brain enzyme. It knocks out both.

The only way to safely lower your cholesterol is to change your lifestyle and diet. Unfortunately, cheaper statins only means more people will decide to pop a pill instead of making the necessary changes to their life.

Some people, because of genetics, will find it harder to lower their cholesterol than others. But you still don't have to resort to dangerous statin drugs. There are many safe nutrients that lower cholesterol without the side effects of statins. These include policosanol, niacin, and guggul. You can find this in many health food stores, but I think the best product on the market is that sold by Healthy Resolve.

Ref: Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology. 2004;24:806.