HMG-CoA Reductase

Comparison of Cholesterol Lowering Drugs

If you have high cholesterol levels and have unsuccessfully tried to lower your numbers through diet and lifestyle changes, your doctor may recommend cholesterol-lowering drugs to aid your efforts. A number of different cholesterol-lowering drugs...

How Do Statins Reduce LDL Cholesterol Levels?

For more than 60 years, scientists have gathered information about how abnormalities in lipid levels, such as high cholesterol, can affect your health. One of the longest-running trials, the Framingham Heart Study, has demonstrated that high total...

Vitamin C & Crestor

Elevated levels of cholesterol can be dangerous because they can cause atherosclerosis. Many prescription medications can be used to lower cholesterol levels, but vitamin C may also be effective at lowering cholesterol levels. Talk to your doctor...

Statins & Fat Metabolism

Hypercholesterolemia, or high cholesterol, plays a key role in the development of atherosclerosis and the progression of coronary artery disease. Current guidelines indicate the importance of lowering LDL cholesterol to combat these effects. To...

What Cholesterol Medication Works the Best?

The most effective, and most often prescribed, cholesterol-lowering medication is a class of drug called statins, also called HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors. According to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, statins can lower your LDL...

What Is a Statin Drug?

Statin drugs belong to a group of cholesterol-lowering substances known as 3-hydroxy-3-methyl-glutaryl-CoA reductase inhibitors, or HMG CoA reductase inhibitors. Pravastatin, lovastatin, rosuvastatin, atorvastatin, fluvastatin and simvastatin are...

Remedies for Cholesterol

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, coronary artery disease is the leading type of heart disease in America. It can result in a myocardial infarction, or what is commonly referred to as a heart attack. There are several...

What Are the Side Effects of Taking Cholesterol Medication?

Statins are a class of cholesterol-lowering medications known as HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors. These play a very important role in people with elevated cholesterol in assisting in cardiovascular health. Lowering circulating cholesterol decreases...

The Effects of Statins on Coenzyme Q10

Statins, also known as HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors, are prescription drugs used to lower levels of cholesterol. Coenzyme Q10 is a compound naturally produced by the body that is involved in numerous biological processes. Health supplements...

Muscle Spasms & Cholesterol Medications

According to 2006 data presented by the American Heart Association, coronary heart disease is the number one cause of death among Americans, and high cholesterol is one of the principal risk factors for coronary heart disease. This association has...

The Side Effects of Lipitor & CoQ10

Lipitor is the brand-name of the medication atorvastatin, a member of a class of drugs known as statins that are used to treat high cholesterol. Coenzyme Q10, a compound similar to vitamins in its effects, is required for numerous biochemical...

Cholesterol Drug Side Effects

If you have high cholesterol, you may have already tried diet and exercise to lower your LDL cholesterol and raise your HDL cholesterol. For some people, especially those with a family history of hypercholesterolemia, diet and exercise alone are...

How Do Statin Drugs Work?

Statins (also known as HMG CoA reductase inhibitors) are the most widely prescribed class of drugs. Statins prevent cholesterol production in the liver. Leonard Lily, M.D., states that depending on the type of statins prescribed low-density...

Drugs Recommended to Lower LDL

LDL, or low-density lipoprotein, is a type of cholesterol commonly known as bad cholesterol. In excess, it builds up in the walls of the arteries and causes them to narrow and stiffen. If a clot blocks a narrowed artery within the heart or the...

Liver Cells & Cholesterol

The liver detoxifies the blood but it also is responsible for making many different components needed for the body to function properly. One substance which the liver makes, cholesterol, is needed for cells to work properly. Too much cholesterol,...

The Cholesterol Lowering Medications

The amount of cholesterol in your blood is directly related to your diet. If you have high cholesterol, changing your diet and adding exercise to your routine is often enough to lower your cholesterol to healthy ranges. If you cannot successfully...

Grapefruit and Cholesterol Drugs

Cholesterol drugs are effective in lowering high levels of total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and triglycerides, which are the fat molecules in the body. The cholesterol-lowering medications include niacin, the bile acid sequestrants, fibrates,...

LDL Cholesterol Levels & Cardiovascular Risk

Coronary artery disease is the No. 1 cause of death for men and women, and the rate increases in women once they are past menopause, notes James Warnica, M.D., director of the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit at Foothills Medical Center in "The Merck...

Cholesterol Medicines and Liver Damage

High levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol is one of the main risk factors for atherosclerosis, the number one cause of death for the American population. In atherosclerosis, the medium and large arteries have plaque filled with connective...

Cholesterol and Statins

Cholesterol is a molecule with seven rings and important, necessary functions in the body. For example, it structurally augments the cell membrane, which surrounds and protects the cell. It also is the precursor to steroid hormones such as...

Is Red Yeast Rice a Statin?

High blood cholesterol levels, a condition often diagnosed as hyperlipidemia, affects approximately 16.3 percent of the adults in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Because high cholesterol increases...

Can Statin Drugs for High Cholesterol Cause Muscle Problems?

More than 60 years of data collection and scientific research have revealed that a high serum cholesterol level, also known as hypercholesterolemia, increases your risk for cardiovascular disease. The Framingham Heart Study, initiated in 1948 and...

Will Taking CoQ10 Counteract Side Effects of Statins?

Coenzyme Q10, often abbreviated CoQ10, is a compound that is naturally produced by the body and found in high levels in the liver, heart, pancreas and kidneys. Coenzyme Q10 is also found in certain foods, particularly seafood and meat. Health...

What Is Lovastatin Cholesterol Medication?

Lovastatin is a drug used to treat elevated cholesterol levels in the blood. It belongs to a class of compounds known as HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors, or statins. Also known as Mevacor, lovastatin is effective in reducing LDL, or "bad,"...

What Medicines Are Available to Lower Cholesterol?

Diet and lifestyle are the major risk factors for high cholesterol. If your doctor discovers that you have high cholesterol, the initial recommendation is usually to follow a diet that is low in fat and cholesterol and engage in regular exercise....

Simvastatin Cholesterol Medication

Simvastatin, manufactured commercially and sold under the brand name Zocor in the United States, belongs to a class of drugs known as statins that can lower cholesterol levels. Statins are the most commonly prescribed class of drug in the United...

Red Yeast Rice Herbs

Red yeast rice (RYR) is yeast grown on rice. In Chinese medicine, RYR is used as a supplement to manage cholesterol levels. Many of the compounds in RYR behave like cholesterol lowering medications called statins and can benefit you if you suffer...

Can Pravastatin Leach Vitamin D?

Prescription medications often have a number of unintended side effects. Pravastatin is a drug that inhibits cholesterol synthesis. When this drug was introduced, there were concerns that it might reduce levels of vitamin D in the body. This drug...