A new study published in theJournal of the American College of Cardiologyhas found that statins, drugs that are prescribed to lower cholesterol, could block the positive effects of physical exercise. However, this is only a preliminary result, and scientists suggest the need to continue studying the drug’s interaction with sports.
Statins are life-saving drugs by acting on thecholesterol and triglyceride metabolismand they reduce the risk of heart attacks and cardiovascular diseases. Its action reduces the harmful fraction of LDL cholesterol and prevents it from accumulating in the arteries. Although it is always advisable to combine treatment with these drugs with the practice of healthy habits, such as physical exercise, until now little study has been done of the interaction that may exist between the two recommendations.
The researchers, from the University of Missouri, selected a group of people who are overweight, sedentary and with high cholesterol levels, although not in dangerous numbers. For twelve weeks, the participants began controlled exercise, and half of them took a regulated dose of a type of statin called simvastatin.
After three months of exercise,statin-treated patients improved their physical condition by just 1 percentWhile those who had only exercised, without taking the drug, improved by 10 percent. According to the results of the study, these differences are due to the levels of an enzyme that is related to the health of the mitochondria, which are the cellular organelles that generate energy. John Thyfault, one of the authors, points out that “there is no doubt that statins save lives”, however it is necessary to better study these interactions, which will allow doctors to have more decision tools when prescribing drugs.
