I recently advised people to consider the wisdom of using statins, those anticholesterol drugs that have become widely used, even wildly popular. I don't think they make sense and I never have. After reviewing the early research on their effectiveness, or rather, lack of effectiveness, many years ago I have been surprised by their popularity.

I shouldn't have been surprised though, since I know how the drug companies make drugs fashionable. I think it is high time that people woke up and stopped swallowing dangerous pills of dubious benefit. In my article I urged people to recognize that cholesterol isn't so bad. Certainly it is not the sole source of cardiovascular evil as it has been painted by drug company sponsored research and frankly stupid prescribers.

Today I received an email with a copy of a recent Reuter's report, of a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Neurological Association, held recently in San Diego, California. They report as follows.

Dr Huang and colleagues, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, measured the lipid levels of 124 Parkinson's patients and a group of 112 similar people free of Parkinson's disease.

Huang reported that, after adjusting for age, smoking, and use of lipid-lowering agents, men with low total and LDL ("bad") cholesterol levels had an increased risk of Parkinson's.

For example, compared to men with LDL cholesterol levels higher than 135, those with levels between 91 and 135 were 6 times more likely to have Parkinson's, and those LDL levels below 91 were 4 time more likely.

Huang proposed several possible mechanisms to explain the link between low cholesterol and risk of Parkinson's disease. One is that cholesterol helps rid the body of environmental toxins that might trigger Parkinson's.

"Another possible mechanism underlying our finding is the role of cholesterol as a precursor for hormones/chemical modulators that are involved in central nervous system function in a variety of ways," he said.

The association did not hold true for women. "Our findings of the gender differences are intriguing...the lifetime risk of Parkinson's disease is about two-fold higher in males than females," Huang noted.

"The fact that LDL cholesterol levels increase with age in men until 65 years of age, and until 75 years in women, may be relevant to our findings of gender-specific association between cholesterol and Parkinson's disease," he commented.

Expanding on this point, Huang concluded: "The fact that cholesterol levels tend to increase with age in young or middle age adults, yet decrease in later life when the risk of Parkinson's disease increases, suggests caution in balancing the benefits and risks of medication use in achieving 'optimal' cholesterol levels."

So, what is that saying again? Oh yes, fools rush in where angels fear to tread. I consider the use of statins to be foolish and now we may be seeing the beginning of many reports that link the artificial reduction of serum cholesterol levels with various diseases.

Interestingly enough, the strong self-serving attitudes and political manoeuvering of the medical profession in countries like America and Australia have prevented their governments from authorizing statins for over-the-counter sales. In Britain people can self medicate with statins "to their heart's content", even if it does untold damage. Not that this helps really, because doctors are not likely to quickly stop prescribing statins. They don't tend to let serious side effects stop them from prescribing, it's just too good for business.

I say again, it is time to rethink the whole use of statins. It is important to do this right now because the drug companies, almost giddy with their statins marketing success, are gearing up to push them for many more conditions besides hyperlipidemia. You have been warned. It's your life.