For Jay Leno, the old saw that "laughter is the best medicine" is a bunch of hooey.
"It's a terrible medicine," insisted the stand-up comic who hosted "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" for more than 21 years. "It doesn't do anything at all. A guy like me will die laughing. Don't talk to a comedian. Talk to your doctor!"
Leno, who performs Sunday at Treasure Island in Red Wing, wants people to know what he found out 20 years ago but only now is making public: He has high cholesterol. The condition, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) — the "bad" cholesterol that can lead to heart disease — is the leading cause of death in the United States, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Leno has teamed with the Amgen pharmaceutical company for a national campaign to promote the new information-heavy Cholesterol 911 website (cholesterol911.com).
Among its facts and figures: Someone in the United States has a heart attack or stroke every 40 seconds, often brought on by artery-clogging high cholesterol.
Leno, 69, is making a point about high cholesterol and the importance of knowing what your numbers are — figures you can get with a simple blood test. This is information you can use to treat this preventable disease through either medication, like statin drugs, or through diet and regular physical activity.
Yet people, men especially, are often reluctant to talk to their doctors about it.
"People won't talk to a professor who went to medical school for 18 years, but they'll talk to Larry at the Shell station," Leno said in mock frustration. Cholesterol 911 provides a discussion guide to make it easier to work closely with a doctor.
