Statins support good habits

MIRRORING a Swedish study which found that statin users had better dietary habits compared to non-users, new work out of Monash University has revealed smoking status, alcohol consumption and exercise level did not differ significantly between users and non-users of statins.

In addition, the study showed that statin users were 29% less likely to consume high amounts of saturated fat compared to non-users.

“It’s sometimes assumed that many people take statin cholesterol

medications to substitute for a healthy diet and lifestyle, but we found no evidence of this,” Dr Jenni Ilomaki of the Monash Centre for Medicine Use and Safety said.

“In fact, statin users were less likely to consume high levels of saturated fat than non-users, even after controlling for a person’s cardiovascular risk factors.”

The study highlights the continued importance of healthcare professionals emphasising diet and lifestyle modification when prescribing or dispensing statins.

M Aet,/> also out of Monash, researchers have begun to unravel the mystery of very small receptors’ structure to enable the development of drugs that can target them.

The Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (MIPS) said the important element of this discovery relates to the cryoelectron microscopy methodology which has broader implications for the development of drugs to tackle a wide variety of diseases such as hypercalcemia, Paget’s disease, diabetes, obesity, osteoporosis and migraine - visit monash.edu.au.