A recent study of 6, 403 people showed that those treated with the drug pravastatin, one of the effects of which is to reduce cholesterol, had about one-third fewer nonfatal heart attacks and one-third fewer deaths from coronary disease than did those not taking the drug  This result is consistent with other studies, which show that those who have heart disease often have higher than average cholesterol levels
This shows that lowering cholesterol levels reduces the risk of heart disease
fails to consider that pravastatin may reduce the risk of heart disease but not as a consequence of its lowering cholesterol levels