This isn’t your usual statin drug/big pharma bashing post. Statin drugs have done wonders for those suffering from high cholesterol levels and have helped lengthen the lives of people taking them. Statin drugs are some of the most widely used drugs today and this is evidenced by the fact that worldwide there was around $13 billion dollars in revenue from the sale of Lipitor alone (Forbes). However, there is an inherent risk in taking statin drugs. To understand the risk you need to know a little bit about how statin drugs work.
While your diet contributes to cholesterol in the body, around 80% of the total cholesterol is synthesized in your liver. This is what makes Lipitor, Crestor, Vytorin, Caduaet and other statin drugs so effective.
Cholesterol synthesis is a lengthy process that begins with a molecule called Acetyl-CoA which is used in various functions throughout the body. There are more steps than the those in the diagram above, but I removed the non-essential steps to help focus on how statins work. Once Acetyl-CoA is transformed into another substrate called HMG-CoA, statin drugs do their work. They inhibit an enzyme called HMG-CoA Reductase that transforms HMG-CoA into Mevalonate. Without mevalonate, which is the next substrate needed, cholesterol synthesis can no longer move forward. This is great news if you have hypercholesterolemia. But there is one small problem.
Somewhere alone the process of cholesterol synthesis is a substrate formed called Farnesyl-PP. This is an important substrate for the fact that it is needed to form two important compounds. Cholesterol is one and CoQ-10 is another. Statins stop the production of farnesyl-PP by inhibiting the process way back at the HMG-CoA step. So, it inhibits the production of both cholesterol (good) and CoQ-10 (very bad!).
Considering that CoQ-10 production is generally decreased the older we get, this inhibition by statin drugs is important because CoQ-10 is used in nearly every cell in the body. It is an essential anti-oxidant used in the production of ATP, which every cell in your body uses for energy. There has been some evidence that reduced CoQ-10 can even contribute to heart disease, has been used for treatment of migraines, cancer, hypertension and has shown to be beneficial for those following episodes of cardiac arrest. I’ve included some research papers at the end for further reading on these topics if you are interested.
So the long and short of it is, supplementation with CoQ-10 should be essential if you are on statin drugs and are even a good idea in those getting older in age or looking for a good anti-oxidant to supplement with. The thing that is interesting is that the medical community knows of this side effect, but rarely suggests supplementation of CoQ-10. So next time your in, ask your doctor about it.
Now I think I have written enough… see you next time.
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Muscle Coenzyme Q10 Level in Statin-Related Myopathy
Coenzyme Q10 Combined With Mild Hypothermia After Cardiac Arrest
