Today's statin users consume more calories and fat, and weigh more, than their predecessors

People who take statin drugs to lower their cholesterol appear to have developed a false sense of security that could lead to heart disease and other obesity-related illnesses. A new UCLA-led study suggests that people who took statins in the 2009–10 year were consuming more calories and fat than those who used statins 10 years earlier. There was no similar increase in caloric and fat intake among non–stain users during that decade, researchers said. In 1999–2000, statin users were consuming fewer calories and less fat than individuals who didn't take these medications, but that is no longer the case. Increases in body mass index — a measure of obesity that considers body weight and height — were greater for statin-users than for non-users. "We believe that this is the first major study to show that people on statins eat more calories and fat than people on those medications did a decade earlier," said the study's primary investigator, Takehiro Sugiyama, who led the research while a visiting scholar in the division of general internal medicine and health services research at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. "Statins are used by about one-sixth of adults. We may need to reemphasize the importance of dietary modification for those who are taking these medications, now that obesity and diabetes are important problems in society." The study, subtitled "Gluttony in the Time of Statins?", is published online in the peer-reviewed journal JAMA Intern...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news