Check out my column this month at Endurance Corner. I talk about the pros and cons of the lipid-lowering agents, the so-called statin medications, particularly for otherwise healthy athletes. There are special considerations for athletes and non-athletes, alike, who might take these medications for primary prevention–preventing the first problem with heart or vascular disease.
I just read your article and for someone athletic like me, I won’t consider taking statins. I’ll just look for alternative ways or anything that is organic. I will not take anything with side effects or anything I know can harm my health.
Hi Lawrence,
I just cannot get myself to take statins since seeing directly the muscle toxicity they induce in rats, which resembled rhabdomyolysis. I have found that my hyperlipidemia is better treated by Ironman training (which saved my life from AAA, but that is another story), than atorvastatin. Every cardiologist I meet says, “take Lipitor,” but they seem unable to listen to my story – I am hyperlipidemic (resting TAG >2000, HDL <20, fasted plasma like milk), which I found myself by chance in the lab about 30 years ago whilst running a Sephadex protein binding assay, but I'm not dead yet http://goo.gl/6iAuJ! The only thing that really brings my lipid profile into the ‘normal’ range is intense exercise, and that really works. Atorvastatin brought the levels towards normal, but only temporarily. I also have an AAA, which is clearly linked to lipid metabolism (but probably not mechanistically) if the LRP1 data is to be believed. So, my advice is avoid statins at all costs if you are an athlete. I really appreciate your thoughtful blog posts, btw. -k aka FitOldDog