Cholesterol-lowering statin drugs could cause Americans to eat even more poorly by making them feel resistant to the consequences of unhealthy food.
A research team found people who had taken statins between the years of 2009 and 2010 consumed more "fat and calories" than those who had taken the medication a decade earlier, HealthDay reported. This same effect was not seen in individuals who did not take statins.
The data showed recent statin users consumed "9.6 percent more calories and 14.4 percent" than those 10 years earlier, HealthDay reported.
"We believe that this is the first major study to show that people on statins eat more calories and fat than people on those medications did a decade earlier," study author Takehiro Sugiyama, a clinical fellow at the National Center for Global Health and Medicine in Japan, said HealthDay reported.
"Statins are used by about one-sixth of adults. We may need to re-emphasize the importance of dietary modification for those who are taking these medications, now that obesity and diabetes are important problems in society," Sugiyama said.
The research team believes current statin users do not feel the same urgency to lower their caloric and fat intake as they did 20 years ago. Doctors are also more likely to prescribe the drugs to overweight individuals who eat more than the average patient.
"Regardless of the mechanism they are problems, because eating more fat, especially saturated fat, will lead to higher cholesterol levels, which will undermine the effect of statins and may lead to unnecessary cost of medications. Being overweight also increases the risk of diabetes and [high blood pressure], which also are risk factors for heart disease and stroke," Sugiyama said, HealthDay reported
"We believe that, when physicians prescribe statins, the goal is to decrease patients' cardiovascular risks that cannot be achieved without medications, not to empower them to put butter on steaks," he said.
