Statins: How the drug prevents heart attacks and strokes Coupled with certain beverages, however, the drug's effects may become unfavourable. Coffee, for instance, has been found to block the protective effects of the drug against heart attack.
Background: Adenosine receptor activation is essential for mediating the IS-limiting effects of statins. Caffeine is a nonspecific adenosine receptor blocker, and thus drinking CC may block the myocardial protective effects of statins.
Food and alcohol
Grapefruit juice can affect some statins and increase your risk of side effects. A doctor may advise you to avoid it completely or only consume small quantities. The doctor will also ask you how much alcohol you drink before prescribing statins.
Coffee contains chemicals called tannins. Tannins can bind to phenothiazines and decrease how much medicine the body absorbs. To avoid this interaction, avoid coffee one hour before and two hours after taking these medications.
Patients are advised not to drink coffee with atorvastatin as some studies show that it can diminish the protective levels of the statin. Decaffeinated coffee has not been shown to reduce effectiveness, but some patients may choose to avoid this too, just in case.
Alcohol (Ethanol) atorvastatin
Atorvastatin may cause liver problems and using it with substantial quantities of ethanol may increase that risk. You should limit the use of alcohol while being treated with these medications.
Green tea may interact with cholesterol-lowering drugs
Statins are a family of blood cholesterol-lowering drugs that act by inhibiting the production of cholesterol in the liver. Studies have found that green tea can interact with both statins simvastatin and rosuvastatin to alter their kinetic profiles in the body.
So, why do people take statins at night? Many statins work more effectively when they are taken at night. This is because the enzyme which makes the cholesterol is more active at night. Also, the half-life, or the amount of time it takes for half the dose to leave your body, of some statins is short.
Statins: Don't eat grapefruit
Grapefruit and other citrus fruits can interfere with how your body metabolizes these medications.
You can choose to take it at any time, as long as you stick to the same time every day. This prevents your blood levels from becoming too high or too low. Sometimes doctors may recommend taking it in the evening. This is because your body makes most cholesterol at night.
There is no manufacturer's warning against drinking while on any statin medication, including Lipitor, which is recommended to be taken after dinner or at bedtime.
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.
While coffee does not contain cholesterol, it can affect cholesterol levels. The diterpenes in coffee suppress the body's production of substances involved in cholesterol breakdown, causing cholesterol to increase. Specifically, coffee diterpenes may cause an increase in total cholesterol and LDL levels.
While caffeine does not directly increase cholesterol levels in the body, it can cause indirect effects that may contribute to an increase in cholesterol, said Dr Patil. How? For example, caffeine can cause stress, which can lead to increased cortisol levels and elevated cholesterol levels.
One of the most common complaints of people taking statins is muscle pain. You may feel this pain as a soreness, tiredness or weakness in your muscles. The pain can be a mild discomfort, or it can be severe enough to make your daily activities difficult.
What's the better choice, coffee or tea? “Neither is particularly harmful, and both offer an abundance of potential health benefits. Like most things in life, it comes down to portion control and individual preference,” Bollig said. If you aren't sensitive to caffeine, both are considered healthy.
Alonzo: The medications that can interact with caffeine come from 3 main classes: antibiotics, estrogen-containing medications and medications that slow blood clotting, such as anticoagulants and antiplatelets. Certain types of antibiotics known as quinolones can interact with caffeine.
A low-dose statin like atorvastatin (Lipitor®) is safe for most patients, including those with mild liver enzyme abnormalities. Many people have fatty liver disease due to obesity.
Drinking a cup of black coffee before a cholesterol test might not significantly affect the test results. However, it is best to follow a doctor's orders. If the doctor suggests fasting before a cholesterol test, then the person should fast.
Researchers have found that fat-soluble statins — which include Lipitor, Mevacor, Vytorin and Zocor — are more likely to cause insomnia or nightmares because they can more easily penetrate cell membranes and make their way across the blood-brain barrier, which protects the brain from chemicals in the blood.
Some foods and medications don't mix well with statins and can make side effects worse: Grapefruit juice, which has chemical that can change the way your body breaks down statins. A drug for irregular heart rhythms called amiodarone (Cordarone, Pacerone)
People taking ACE inhibitors or ARBs should limit their intake of high-potassium foods like bananas, oranges, avocados, tomatoes, white and sweet potatoes and dried fruits —, especially apricots.