[Standard Media]
New York, USA: People who take the common cholesterol-lowering drugs known as statins may feel a false sense of security and eat a bit more, according to a new study.
Researchers found that U.S. adults taking statins in 1999-2000 were eating fewer calories than people not taking the drugs, but statin users were eating about the same amount as non-users by 2009-2010.
“We believe that physicians need to reemphasize the importance of a healthy lifestyle to statin-users,” Dr. Takehiro Sugiyama told Reuters Health in an email.
He is the study’s lead author from the University of Tokyo in Japan.
Eating excess calories and fat would not only compromise the cholesterol-lowering effect of statins, he said. It would also increase a person’s risk of becoming obese and developing diabetes.