An important new study suggests that statins, the cholesterol-lowering medications that are the most prescribed drugs in the world, may block some of the fitness benefits of exercise , one of the surest ways to improve health.
For the new study, researchers from the University of Missouri and other institutions gathered a group of overweight, sedentary menand women, all of whom had multiple symptomsof metabolic problems, including wide waistlines ,high blood pressure or excess abdominal fat.
Most had slightly but not dangerously elevated cholesterol levels . None had exercised regularly in the past year. All underwent muscle biopsies and treadmill testing to determine their aerobic fitness.
Then they all began a supervised 12-week exercise program, during which they visited the university lab five times a week and walked or jogged on a treadmill for 45 minutes at a moderately vigorous pace.
Half of the group also began taking a daily 40-milligram dose of simvastatin, a particular type of statin sold under the brand name Zocor. At the end of 12 weeks, the participants fitness and muscles were retested.
The unmedicated volunteers improved their aerobic fitness significantly after three months of exercise, by more than 10 percent on average. But the volunteers taking the statins gained barely 1 percent on average in their fitness, and some possessed less aerobic capacity at the end of the study than at its start.
