Dr Amir Khan

So it reduces its output of cholesterol.

Now, when the liver reduces its output of cholesterol, it does something quite, I think, quite magical.

It increases its receptors, which are like little nets on the surface for these bad LDLs, these harmful low-density lipoproteins.

So it then takes those LDLs out of your blood and processes them and excretes them.

So not only are you, as a result of your statin, producing less cholesterol, you're actually taking more of those bad LDLs out of your blood.

Now, the magic doesn't stop there with statins.

So remember I also said to you, you know, your immune system goes up to a fatty plaque and it tries to get rid of it and that can loosen it and make it go off somewhere.

Statins also stabilise these fatty plaques.

So there's less risk of them coming off, flying off and blocking something.

They can reduce your risk of having a heart attack or stroke by about 20-25%, which is a significant reduction risk.

And so I would say to patients, yes, if you can have a statin and you advise that you need a statin, go on a statin.

There's a lot of misinformation online about what they do and how harmful they are and actually what their safety profile is.

Their safety profile is really good.

Remember, we've got millions of people on these drugs.

So when you hear about, oh, I had these side effects, it's because there's so many people on them.

You don't hear about the people who are doing fine on them.

Yeah.

So proportionately, still, the side effects are pretty slim.

The most common thing we see is muscle aches with statins.

People get joint pains and muscle aches.