Statin Drugs Have Been Shown To Cause Cellular Damage And Reduce Co Q 10 Levels

Statin Drugs Have Been Shown To Cause Cellular Damage And Reduce Co Q 10 Levels

I have so many people ask me about their health and tell me they are considering taking statin drugs. Here is a study you may want to read if you are considering taking these drugs.

It is a human study published in the US National Library of Medicine – National Institute of Health. PubMed.

Evidence of plasma CoQ10-lowering effect by HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors: a double-blind, placebo-controlled study.

Ghirlanda G1, Oradei A, Manto A, Lippa S, Uccioli L, Caputo S, Greco AV, Littarru GP.

Author information

Abstract

Inhibitors of HMG-CoA reductase are new safe and effective cholesterol-lowering agents. Elevation of alanine-amino transferase (ALT) and aspartate-amino transferase (AST) has been described in a few cases and a myopathy with elevation of creatinine kinase (CK) has been reported rarely. The inhibition of HMG-CoA reductase affects also the biosynthesis of ubiquinone (CoQ10). We studied two groups of five healthy volunteers treated with 20 mg/day of pravastatin (Squibb, Italy) or simvastatin (MSD) for a month. Then we treated 30 hypercholesterolemic patients in a double-blind controlled study with pravastatin, simvastatin (20 mg/day), or placebo for 3 months. At the beginning, and 3 months thereafter we measured plasma total cholesterol, CoQ10, ALT, AST, CK, and other parameters (urea, creatinine, uric acid, total bilirubin, gamma GT, total protein). Significant changes in the healthy volunteer group were detected for total cholesterol and CoQ10 levels, which underwent about a 40% reduction after the treatment. The same extent of reduction, compared with placebo was measured in hypercholesterolemic patients treated with pravastatin or simvastatin. Our data show that the treatment with HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors lowers both total cholesterol and CoQ10 plasma levels in normal volunteers and in hypercholesterolemic patients. CoQ10 is essential for the production of energy and also has antioxidative properties. A diminution of CoQ10 availability may be the cause of membrane alteration with consequent cellular damage.

PMID:

8463436

Study Type : Human Study

Additional Links

Diseases : Drug-Induced Toxicity : CK(562) : AC(83), High Cholesterol : CK(1774) : AC(271), Myopathies : CK(252) : AC(53)

Additional Keywords : Drug-Nutrient Depletion : CK(64) : AC(7), Statin-Coq10 Depletion : CK(36) : AC(5)

Problem Substances : Lovastatin : CK(267) : AC(68), Pravastatin : CK(251) : AC(42), Simvastatin : CK(754) : AC(153), Statin Drugs : CK(4369) : AC(517)

Adverse Pharmacological Actions : Cytotoxic : CK(85) : AC(50)

Here is the link for the study: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8...

Reduction in coq10 levels may result in mitochondrial dysfunction and cellular damage.

This is not good for one’s health and well-being.

My thoughts on this are to improve your health with a better diet, like you can have with a vegetarian diet. The plant-based diet has been shown to reverse heart disease, diabetes and some cancers.

You can learn how to do this by getting my free monthly newsletter or by reading my award winning book/cookbook: Second Edition of “How To Be A Healthy Vegetarian” or “Diabetes And Your Diet” By Nancy Addison. Here is my universal author’s link for Amazon: Author.to/nancyaddison (You may have to cut and paste that link to use it.)

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