High-intensity exercise interventions should therefore be considered as a viable alternative to, or alongside, moderate statin dose therapy. Indeed, an increasing number of experts recommend prescribing an “exercise pill” as a preventive strategy to reduce CVD [61,62].
The study finds that statin users, whether they do or do not have muscle problems, experience the same muscle-related effects from moderate-intensity exercise.
The good news, as the studies from the University of Toronto and the Pritikin Research Foundation have confirmed, is that diet works. The right diet – full of fiber-rich fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and beans and very low in saturated fat – can reduce, and maybe even eliminate, the need for statins.
Some people do not tolerate statins or may want to try natural remedies to treat their high cholesterol. Statin alternatives include some prescription medications like ezetimibe and fibric acids. Natural remedies that some people use to help treat high cholesterol include omega-3 fatty acids and red yeast rice extract.
If you've made lifestyle changes through diet and exercise that have lowered your cholesterol levels, you may not need to continue taking a statin. These changes can help reduce your risk of heart attack, stroke, or blocked arteries while allowing you to take one less medication.
If you eat healthily you won't need statins
Some people may be able to reduce their cholesterol to safe levels by changing their diet, or exercising more. However others will need a statin alongside a healthy lifestyle.
Exercise can improve cholesterol. Moderate physical activity can help raise high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, the "good" cholesterol. With your doctor's OK, work up to at least 30 minutes of exercise five times a week or vigorous aerobic activity for 20 minutes three times a week.
To reduce your cholesterol, try to cut down on fatty food, especially food that contains a type of fat called saturated fat. You can still have foods that contain a healthier type of fat called unsaturated fat. Check labels on food to see what type of fat it has in it.
If you're taking a statin medication to lower your cholesterol, you will need to keep taking your prescription, or your cholesterol will likely go back up. Stopping your statin can put you at risk of having heart disease and other preventable health problems like stroke and heart attack from high cholesterol.
Fear of side effects and perceived side effects are the most common reasons for declining or discontinuing statin therapy. Willingness to take a statin is high, among both patients who have declined statin therapy and those who have never been offered one.
Nothing in the current research suggests that garlic is anywhere near as effective as statin drugs in treating high cholesterol. As promising as some of the evidence may sound, self-treating a condition like high cholesterol is likely to cause more harm than good.
Athletes needing medication to lower lipid levels, he suggested, can take low doses of long-acting statins (rosuvastatin, atorvastatin or pitavastatin) as well as the medication ezetimibe twice weekly without suffering a reduced performance.
St. Luke's cardiologist and board-certified in Lipidologist, Sobhan Kodali, MD, states, “If you know you are at high risk for heart disease or stroke, the benefits of statins far outweigh the risks."
We have data now from over 20 statin trials of over 135,000 patients that show statins compared with placebo or no medication result in a 23 percent reduction in heart attacks, 17 percent reduction in fatal or non-fatal stroke and 19 percent reduction in death from cardiovascular causes. So, they definitely work.
High cholesterol levels are considered: too high: between 5 and 6.4mmol/l. very high: between 6.5 and 7.8mmol/l. extremely high: above 7.8mmol/l.
Even if you eat right and exercise, you can still have high cholesterol if you have inherited a genetic form of high cholesterol from your parents called familial hypercholesterolemia. Even though it cannot be prevented, maintaining a healthy lifestyle can help keep the condition under control.
Aerobic exercise that's repetitive and works multiple muscle groups, is the best exercise to reduce cholesterol. The American Heart Association recommends exercising for at least 30 minutes five to seven times per week.
Once you've worked up to a stable exercise program, you should see improvements in your LDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels in about a month, says Eckel.
Forms of exercise that help a person lower their total and LDL cholesterol levels include walking, running, cycling, and swimming. Often, these exercises can also help raise the levels of a person's HDL cholesterol.
If you quit cold turkey, your body can go into shock. It is not recommended that you stop statins suddenly if you have a history of heart attack or stroke, as it can put you at a higher risk of recurrent heart attack. You should speak with your doctor before stopping the medicine under any circumstance.
Joseph A. Hill, M.D., Ph. D. The controversy in the United Kingdom started in 2013 when the British Medical Journal (BMJ) claimed statins were being overprescribed to people with low risk of heart disease, and that the drugs' side effects were worse than previously thought.
A: Yes. There have been several clinical studies — many of them done here at Cleveland Clinic — that show statins can reverse plaque buildup. Two statins in particular, atorvastatin, which is sold under the brand name Lipitor, and rosuvastatin, which is sold under the brand name Crestor, are the strongest statins.