I'm all for pharma-free research, but I have direct experience watching large numbers of people use statins. It's quite remarkable, actually - even folks with whom diet & exercise have limited effect, statins make a tremendous dent in the vast majority of people's cholesterol. When you see it happen the first time, it actually looks almost like a magic bullet, although you have to remember that we still need to fully evaluate their long-term effects on true mortality.

There are a lot of naysayers out there, but at this point in time, statins are surprisingly effective, which is part of their advocacy by the medical consortium.

They also tell you that 50% of everything you learn in med school will be false in 10 years, so get ready to have this thing turned on its head by then.

Paleo diet, anyone? Oh, and bike a lot - that'll help as well!