Statins - How They Work to Reduce Cholesterol Levels

Florida-based physician Naval Parikh, MD, splits his time between practicing medicine with SortinoMD and serving as NAPA Research’s clinical site coordinator. With upwards of a decade of medical experience, Dr. Naval Parikh has made several presentations about diabetes, folate replacement, and statin use.

A specific class of medications, statins are commonly used to reduce cholesterol levels in the body. By doing this, they also lower a person’s risk of heart attack, angina, and stoke. Common statins seen in the United States include atorvastatin (Lipitor), simvastatin (Zocor), and rosuvastatin (Crestor).

To understand how statins work, it’s important to have a better understanding of cholesterol. This naturally produced fat-like substance travels through the blood and is necessary for normal body and cell function. It is produced by the liver, but can become harmful when it reaches high levels. High amounts of cholesterol increase the risk of plaque buildup in the arteries, thus reducing blood flow and increasing the risk of heart and blood vessel problems.

Statins combat this issue by acting on a specific liver enzyme. This enzyme is necessary for the production of cholesterol, and by impeding its ability to function, statins also lower the amount of cholesterol produced by the liver by more than 50 percent. Further, some statins increase the rate at which cholesterol is absorbed by the body once produced. This also reduces the amount of cholesterol left flowing through the blood vessels.