{"id":848,"date":"2018-03-16T10:19:00","date_gmt":"2018-03-16T10:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drmirkin.com\/2018\/03\/16\/statin-drugs-and-exercise\/"},"modified":"2023-01-07T00:13:49","modified_gmt":"2023-01-07T00:13:49","slug":"statin-drugs-and-exercise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/?p=848","title":{"rendered":"Statin Drugs and Exercise"},"content":{"rendered":"

The evidence is overwhelming that statin drugs do help to lower cholesterol and to reduce risk for heart attacks. However, one study confirms that statins interfere with the ability to exercise and to compete in sports, even in patients who report no symptoms (J Clin Endocrinol Metab<\/em>, 2018;103(1):75-84). Statins cause muscle damage and reduced ability to exercise by decreasing the number and function of muscle mitochondria, the energy sources for muscles during exercise. This study agrees with others showing that statins interfere with a person’s ability to compete in sports (J Am Coll Cardiol<\/em>, 2013;62(8):709\u2013714). Up to 30 percent of patients who take statins suffer muscle pain or torn muscles (Eur Heart J<\/em>, 2015;36(17):1012\u20131022), and people who exercise are far more likely to complain of muscle pain, muscle injuries and fatigue while taking statins (Br J Clin Pharmacol<\/em>, 2004;57(4):525\u2013528).<\/p>\n

The Study<\/strong>
\nTwenty people who had taken statin drugs for many years were included in this new study. Ten suffered muscle pain and undue fatigue during exercise, while ten reported no symptoms during exercise or at rest. The authors used the following tests:
\n\u2022 maximal incremental cycling test,
\n\u2022 involuntary electrically stimulated isometric quadriceps muscle contractions, and
\n\u2022 biopsy of the vastus lateralis muscle.<\/p>\n

Both groups had the same maximal endurance and maximal ability to take in air and use oxygen. However, compared to people who had never taken statin drugs, those who took statins (whether they reported symptoms or not) had:
\n\u2022 decreased anaerobic threshold (muscle pain and burning during exercise because of the accumulation of lactic acid in muscles from lack of oxygen),
\n\u2022 prolonged muscle relaxation time (delayed recovery from exercise),
\n\u2022 decreased rate of maximal force rise during exercise (loss of strength),
\n\u2022 reduced numbers of mitochondria in their muscles, and
\n\u2022 in the symptomatic statin takers only, reduced activity of mitochondria (decreased ability for muscles to use oxygen during exercise).<\/p>\n

This shows that, compared to people who never took statins, the people who took long-term statins tired earlier during maximal exercise because they had lost some of their ability to take in and use oxygen, since their mitochondria could not use oxygen as efficiently to turn food into energy to power their muscles. This suggests that statins interfere with a person’s maximum ability to exercise long and hard, even in people who have no complaints.<\/p>\n

My Recommendations<\/strong>
\nIf your bad LDL cholesterol is above 100 or you have other factors that increase risk for a heart attack, most guidelines recommend that you take statin drugs to help protect you from suffering a heart attack. However, statin drugs come at a price. They can cause muscle pain and damage and can interfere with your ability to exercise. If you are a competitive athlete, they can interfere with your ability to compete at your best.<\/p>\n

Studies show that strict lifestyle changes can be as effective as statins<\/a> in lowering high blood levels of the bad LDL cholesterol and reducing your risk for a heart attack. I recommend that everyone, whether they take statins or not, should:
\n\u2022 follow a diet that is rich in vegetables, fruits, whole (unground) grains, beans, nuts and other seeds
\n\u2022 restrict or avoid sugared drinks and sugar-added foods, mammal meat, processed meat, fried foods, and refined grains (foods made from flour or white rice)
\n\u2022 avoid being overweight
\n\u2022 try to exercise every day
\n\u2022 keep blood levels of hydroxy vitamin D above 20 ng\/dL
\n\u2022 avoid smoke, alcohol and recreational drugs<\/p>\n

Checked 1\/6\/23<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The evidence is overwhelming that statin drugs do help to lower cholesterol and to reduce risk for heart attacks. However, a new study confirms that statins interfere with the ability to exercise and to compete in sports, even in patients who report no symptoms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1025,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-heart"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}