Modern Medicine Today

Introduction: Modern medicine today has an inclination to pursue a quick fix by turning to a pill first and considering causes or side effects later. Is it an ethical responsibility to dive into the root cause of a health issue instead of masking symptoms and possibly causing more harm? For example, Americans today are taught that dietary fat or lipids are the enemy to heart health. It is vehemently lectured that in order to be healthy an individual needs to avoid dietary fat as well as lower elevated cholesterol levels at all costs. Not only is this based on false information, but lipids are also crucial for the survival of the human organism. Humans need to incorporate good fats into the their diet; they are essential. Overall, modern medicine needs to focus on discovering the true culprits that are destroying human health. Causes of particular disease conditions need to be investigated. What are the ethical responsibilities for treating the symptom and not preventing or discovering the cause? In the example of lipid and cholesterol control, is it ethical to reach for a Statin drug to reduce a perceived condition that is associative without first finding the reason for its imbalance? Is it ethical to give a drug that causes a cascade of detrimental metabolic and cognitive effects to prevent a possibility of a health problem that does not yet exist? The following discussion will address these questions using the specific example of Statin drug use as an illustration. It will explore what is truly causing elevated cholesterol, obesity, diabetes, metabolic syndrome and its association to heart disease. This information will then lead into whether or not it is ethical to treat without a present disease to avoid the potential of one at the expense of the whole.

1. Statistics

a. 34% of population have high LDL levels

b. Treatment has increased by 20% with no change in that level

c. In the last 50 years fat caloric intake has reduced by 12% and