The success of statins could be fueling the obesity crisis by discouraging patients from losing weight, experts say
- Around eight million Britons take statins to lower their cholesterol
- Effective heart attack protection may distract from weight loss
- This makes them vulnerable to heart failure, fatty liver disease and arthritis
Statins and blood pressure pills can fuel obesity because they work so well that some patients may stop trying to lose weight, experts warn.
Around eight million Britons take statins to lower their cholesterol, and up to nine million take medicine to lower blood pressure.
But the protection against heart attacks and strokes offered by the pills may prevent people from taking action to combat their expanding waistlines, claims a provocative article in a medical journal.
Statins and blood pressure tablets can provide decades of longer life.
But those who live longer overweight because of these drugs are at higher risk for a long list of obesity-related diseases such as heart failure, fatty liver disease and arthritis.
Statins and blood pressure pills can fuel obesity because they work so well some patients may stop trying to lose weight, experts warn (file image)
The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology opinion piece claims that modern treatments mean that many diseases “are no longer dreaded as they once were”.
Lead author Naveed Sattar, professor of metabolic medicine at the University of Glasgow, said: ‘Better treatments like statins and blood pressure tablets… are indirectly helping to fuel the obesity crisis.
“It’s a brilliant achievement that people are being kept alive longer, so that a person who might have died at age 60 from a stroke or a heart attack lives to the age of 75 years old.
“But if weight isn’t discussed, that person could end up with multiple health issues related in part to being overweight and dozens of different medications.”

But the protection against heart attacks and strokes offered by the pills may prevent people from taking action to tackle their expanding waistlines (file image)
Over the past 40 to 50 years, people in high-income countries like the UK have gained an average of 10 kg (18 lbs) more, and around two-thirds of adults in this country are currently overweight or obese.
Evidence suggests that someone with a BMI over 30, who is classified as obese, is 12 times more likely to suffer from several health problems compared to those who are of a healthy weight.
Professor Sattar added: ‘When a person is on blood pressure pills, that is the perfect window to reflect on their lifestyle. But health care providers rarely discuss it. We need better health policies to prevent obesity.
Dr Sonya Babu-Narayan, Consultant Cardiologist and Associate Medical Director at the British Heart Foundation, said: “Decades of research have shown that statins and antihypertensive drugs save lives.
If these have been recommended by your doctor, it is essential that you continue to take them.
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