Why statins can be harmful?

​According to a new study, Statin users are at risk of 'cardiovascular disease' if they only take the medication without changing nutrition and lifestyle.

This is the magic of the modern culture: "a pill will save me" where patients are under the wrong impression that a pill is all they need to get better.

Unfortunately it's not so simple.

Despite statins being effective at lowering cholesterol levels, an unchanged lifestyle could mean patients are still at risk of life-threatening strokes or heart attacks. Research shows that even with the introduction of statin therapy, "many individuals remain at a much higher risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease". The conclusion came from a 2019 study printed in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) by researchers based at the University of Nottingham.

They looked at 165,411 patients who had high cholesterol but were free from cardiovascular disease, before statin initiation.

Based on current national guidelines, less than a 40 percent reduction in baseline low-density lipoprotein (bad cholesterol) is considered a "sub-optimal statin response".

The results found that 51.2 percent of patients had a sub-optimal response to initiated statin therapy within two years.

During a six-year follow-up period, there were 22,798 cardiovascular events.

Holly Roper - the nutrition manager at Raisio - commented on statin intervention and the research.

While statins have had "a significant impact on the heart health of many... there is no one-size-fits-all approach" via "pharmacological interventions such as statins or ezetimibe".


Heart UK, the leading cholesterol charity, explains: "Statins work by slowing down the production of [low-density lipoprotein] LDL-cholesterol in the liver, where it's made."
"Because the liver isn't making so much cholesterol, it then takes cholesterol out of your blood to make bile with, so your blood cholesterol levels fall."

Heart UK adds: "Keep looking after your health by eating healthily, being active, watching what you drink and stopping smoking if you smoke." [1]



[1] https://www.msn.com/en-gb/health/familyhealth/statin-users-at-risk-of-cardiovascular-disease-if-they-only-take-the-medication/ar-AA18P6kr?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=6f1ac71f345a4b379944a25140169ee7&ei=15