HHS HealthBeat (September 26, 2007)

Statins and lifestyles

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Statin drugs are cholesterol-fighters, so they can help reduce your risk of heart attacks or strokes. But doctors have feared that patients who start taking statins would think they got a free pass to all the steaks and saturated fat they can eat.

That point came up in research, supported by the National Institutes of Health, in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

Researchers talked with patients who went on statins and found that, after six months, the patients had not increased the amount of saturated fat they ate.  But many patients felt their doctors started statins before giving diet changes a fair chance. 

Mayo Clinic’s Victor Montori advises patients to make bite-sized changes.

"Small changes that are able to be sustained over time could make a big, important difference." (7 seconds)

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: September, 26 2007