Cholesterol is a waxy, fat-like substance found in every cell of the body. It plays an important role in many functions, including building cell walls and making hormones. But too much cholesterol, especially the kind called LDL or “bad” cholesterol, can be harmful.
When there is too much LDL in the blood, it can stick to the walls of the arteries, causing them to narrow. This raises the risk of heart attacks and strokes, which are among the leading causes of death around the world.
To lower cholesterol, doctors usually prescribe medicines called statins. Statins work by reducing the amount of cholesterol the liver makes. For many people, statins are effective at lowering LDL cholesterol and protecting the heart.
However, not everyone can take statins. Some people experience side effects like muscle or joint pain, which can be uncomfortable or even unbearable. For others, statins simply don’t lower cholesterol enough.
Now, there may be another option. A newer drug called bempedoic acid is showing promise as a useful alternative, especially for those who cannot take statins.
This medicine has been studied in a large research project called the CLEAR Outcomes Trial. The study looked at how bempedoic acid worked for people who were unable to tolerate statins and whether it could still help prevent heart problems.
The study results, shared at the Endocrine Society’s 2023 meeting in Chicago, were encouraging. People who took bempedoic acid lowered their LDL cholesterol by an average of 21%. Even more importantly, the risk of having a heart attack, stroke, or other serious heart-related problem went down by 13%. At first, scientists weren’t sure whether bempedoic acid worked as well as statins in protecting the heart. But later analysis showed that people using bempedoic acid had heart benefits similar to those who lowered their cholesterol with statins.
One of the researchers, Dr. A. Michael Lincoff from the Cleveland Clinic, pointed out how important this finding is. He said that heart disease continues to be the number one cause of death and illness in the world.
That’s why finding more treatment options is so important. He explained that bempedoic acid may be very helpful for people who can’t take full doses of statins or who need extra help lowering their LDL cholesterol.
This discovery is meaningful because it shows that even though bempedoic acid is a different type of medicine from statins, it can offer similar protection for the heart. This is not always the case with other types of drugs.
For example, many diabetes medications lower blood sugar but don’t always help with heart health. In contrast, both statins and bempedoic acid seem to reduce heart risks in the same way by targeting LDL cholesterol.
In short, bempedoic acid gives doctors and patients a new option for managing high cholesterol. It offers hope to people who couldn’t take statins or needed something more.
This new development may help prevent more heart attacks and strokes and improve lives for millions of people. Ongoing research like this is vital for building a healthier future and finding better ways to treat serious health problems like heart disease.
If you care about heart health, please read studies about how eating eggs can help reduce heart disease risk, and Vitamin K2 could help reduce heart disease risk.
For more information about heart health, please see recent studies about how to remove plaques that cause heart attacks, and results showing a new way to prevent heart attacks, strokes.
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