By Chuck Lehman
Health Talk to your doctor about reducing your use of statin drugs.
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Exercise
or the average person who’s exercising and working to get in shape, there are always thoughts of general health. Whether we can
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Statins
stick to it or not, we at least know that a good balanced diet is paramount. There is often concern about nutrition and keeping the body fueled properly as activity increases—take a look around the gym and you will see how it’s even become an industry.
activelife Guide / May 2012 / ActiveLifeGuide.com
For years, there has been a general awareness that the most widely prescribed drugs can cause muscle aches and fatigue in some people. What many people don’t realize is that these side effects are especially pronounced in those who exercise. In recent years, scientific studies have been done to learn more about the effect of statin drugs. To learn more about the effects statins have on exercising muscles, scientists in France studied a group of rats. When given common cholesterollowering drugs for two weeks, it was immediately obvious that the medicated animals could not run as far. They became exhausted much earlier than those that had not been given statins. It turns out that there is an even more noticeable difference at the cellular level. When scientists studied the animals’ muscle tissue, they found the oxidative stress was increased by 60% in the sedentary animals given statins. (Oxidative stress is the major cause of cell damage that effectively lowers life expectancy.) And the effect was even greater in the “runners.” The medicated animals that experienced extended time on a treadmill showed over 200% greater oxidative stress. In addition, medicated rats had less glycogen (stored carbohydrates) in their muscles. Their mitochondria, tiny mechanisms within the cells that generate power, exhibited dysfunction, while the mitochondrial respiratory rate in the unmedicated was 25% lower. While extensive studies have not been completed on humans, there is great concern that the impact is quite similar. (It’s more difficult to study the molecular responses in people than in animals—most of us don’t like muscle biopsies.) A study of healthy young people taking statins showed that the gene expression profiles in their leg muscles after exercise were quite
different from those of volunteers not on any medications. In particular, those genes associated with muscle building and repairs were down-regulated in the group using statins. Research is ongoing, but current evidence clearly indicates that statins increase muscle damage during exercise and interfere with the body’s ability to repair damage. Today, more than 20 million Americans are taking statins, and it’s believed that at least 10% experience some degree of increased muscle pain or fatigue. That number rises to at least 25% among people taking statins who regularly exercise, and it could easily be as high as 75% for those competitive athletes that are on statin medications. So what does all this mean for those taking or considering taking statin drugs? It certainly creates a worrisome conundrum for patients and their doctors. Statin users are typically at high risk for cardiovascular problems, thus making them the very people who could most benefit from regular exercise. It can be a real catch-22 when some people are taking statins as a result of muscle problems. In addition, the more the problems you have, the less exercise you want to do. This all seems like a no-win situation. Certainly, it’s best to consult your physician and discuss the situation in great detail, as anything that can be done to lower the use of statins seems to be an all-around good thing for muscle health. Specific medications may not be able to be avoided, but other considerations may be available to compensate for the problems. Exercising and being active are simply great ways to improve your health. Anything you can do to lower your statin usage will work in your favor.
Women’s Health Issue