{"id":822,"date":"2026-02-17T14:25:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T14:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/bbc-sciencefocus\/?p=822"},"modified":"2026-02-17T14:30:53","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T14:30:53","slug":"the-5-biggest-myths-about-statins-and-cholesterol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/bbc-sciencefocus\/2026\/02\/17\/the-5-biggest-myths-about-statins-and-cholesterol\/","title":{"rendered":"The 5 biggest myths about statins and cholesterol"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Health<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 5 biggest myths about statins and cholesterol<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Statins save lives \u2013 so why are so many people wary of taking them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By Holly McHugh<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo credit: Getty<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

High cholesterol is a \u2018silent killer\u2019 and one of the biggest health problems affecting the world today. According to the CDC<\/a>, around 86 million US adults have elevated cholesterol levels, putting them at an increased risk of heart attacks, strokes, and heart disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem isn\u2019t cholesterol itself. The fatty, wax-like substance is mainly produced in our livers and is actually essential for many bodily functions, such as building cells, making hormones, and supporting digestion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problems come when a person has too much of a \u2018bad\u2019 type of cholesterol, called low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When LDL levels rise \u2013 due to a mix of genetics and unhealthy habits such as a diet high in saturated fat, inactivity, being overweight, and smoking \u2013 cholesterol can build up in the artery walls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Cholesterol buildup can restrict the flow of blood. Credit: Getty<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Over time, this forms hard, fatty plaques that narrow and stiffen blood vessels, restricting blood flow to the heart and brain. This significantly raises the risk of cardiac problems and can ultimately be life-threatening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the most effective ways of treating high cholesterol is medications known as statins, which reduce the amount of cholesterol the liver produces. High-dose statins can lower LDL cholesterol by roughly half. For someone with extremely high levels of cholesterol, that could reduce their risk of heart attack or stroke by up to 40 to 50 per cent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet despite these dramatic benefits and their life-saving potential, for decades statins have been shrouded in fear, doubt, and confusion about their potential side effects, meaning many people choose not to take them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re here to set the record straight by busting five of the most common myths about statins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Myth 1: Muscle pain is a common side-effect<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One of the most commonly reported complaints among people taking statins is muscle pain. However, according to new research, the reality could be an example of the \u2018nocebo effect\u2019, a phenomenon where expecting side effects makes you more likely to notice or experience them \u2013 the opposite of the placebo effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was shown clearly in a large randomised trial<\/a> led by Professor Peter Sever at Imperial College London. In the first, blinded phase, patients didn\u2019t know whether they were taking a statin or a placebo, and both groups reported similar levels of muscle pain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the second phase, when participants were told they were taking a statin, reports of muscle symptoms increased by up to 41 per cent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese symptoms are not imaginary, and the pain is real,\u201d Sever explains, \u201cBut our results clearly show the drug is not responsible, and genuine muscle-related side effects from statins are actually very rare.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Only about five per cent of people taking statins experience muscle pain because of it. Credit: Getty<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sever\u2019s findings were confirmed by a large meta-analysis<\/a> from the Cholesterol Treatment Trialists\u2019 Collaboration, which examined data from 23 major blinded, randomised trials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These studies found that muscle symptoms were reported at almost identical rates in people taking statins (27.1 per cent) and those taking a placebo (26.6 per cent), and more than 90 per cent of reported muscle symptoms were not actually caused by the statin itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Christina Reith, associate professor at Oxford Population Health and joint lead author of the study, says, \u201cMany concerns about statin side effects come from observational studies, which aren\u2019t reliable for determining that a drug actually causes symptoms that are common in everyday life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRandomised controlled trials are much more reliable because people are randomly given a statin or a placebo. That makes the groups comparable and allows us to see whether the drug is truly responsible,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Myth 2: They cause diabetes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Another common worry about statins is that they might cause diabetes. There is an element of truth in this, but the reality is more nuanced than the headlines suggest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Statins don\u2019t suddenly cause diabetes out of nowhere in healthy people. What they may do is bring forward the diagnosis in people who were already on the path towards it, as statins can cause a small rise in blood sugar levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Naveed Sattar, professor of Cardiometabolic Medicine at the University of Glasgow and author of multiple studies on statins and diabetes, explains that statins cause a small increase in blood sugar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It’s common for doctors to monitor a person’s blood sugar when they start taking statins. Credit: Getty<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDiabetes is diagnosed at 48 mmol\/mol or above,\u201d says Sattar. \u201cMost people are well below that level, so this small rise isn\u2019t an issue. But for someone who is already very close to the diagnostic cut-off for diabetes, it could nudge them over the line.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He adds that the potential rise in blood sugar can easily be counteracted by small, sustainable lifestyle changes, such as increasing physical activity, losing weight, and improving diet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The way diabetes risk is reported can also sound scarier than it is. For instance, in a large 2024 analysis<\/a> by Reith and her team, lower-intensity statins were linked to a 10 per cent higher relative risk of diabetes, and higher-intensity statins to a 36 per cent higher relative risk compared with a placebo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese figures can sound alarming,\u201d she says, \u201cbut it\u2019s important to look at the absolute change in risk. In the lower-intensity trials, the absolute increase in new cases of diabetes was about 0.12 per cent per year \u2013 just over one extra case per 1,000 people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the higher-intensity trials, the absolute increase was 1.27 per cent per year, around 13 extra cases per 1,000 people each year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u200b\u200bBoth Reith and Sattar stress that people should not be put off statins because of concern about diabetes risk. The significant reduction of heart attacks and strokes from taking statins by far outweighs the risks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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