A recent study in the British Medical Journal asked the following questions:

  • What would happen if everyone over 50 were offered a statin like Lipitor, and 70% complied?
  • What would happen if everyone over 50 were told to eat an apple a day (or one extra portion of some fruit) and 70% complied (and assuming no overall increase in calorie consumption)?

Results:

Statins would save 9,400 lives.

Eating an apple would save 8,500 lives.

The increased statin use would also cause over a thousand cases of muscle disease and 10,000 new diagnoses of diabetes.