Terrifying knowledge These cholesterol-lowering drugs destroy valuable brown fat

Cholesterol-lowering drugs: Statins reduce brown adipose tissue

Taking cholesterol-lowering drugs can help reduce the risk of heart disease. However, these drugs also increase the risk of certain conditions, such as diabetes. And as researchers have now discovered statins also reduce the beneficial for the health brown adipose tissue.

Diet and medication

About every third German citizen has high cholesterol. An elevated cholesterol level can lead to diseases of the vessels, with possible consequences such as a heart attack or stroke. In order to lower the cholesterol, a change in diet is usually recommended. Often also cholesterol-lowering drugs are used. However, medical specialists criticize the fact that such preparations are prescribed too often and in many cases do more harm than good because they can, among other things, cause muscle problems and increase the risk of diabetes. In addition, researchers have now found that cholesterol lowering also reduce the beneficial for the health of brown adipose tissue.

Statins that lower blood cholesterol levels are among the most widely used drugs worldwide. Researchers have now discovered that these medicines also reduce the beneficial brown adipose tissue. (Image: designer491 / fotolia.com)

Adults have brown adipose tissue in addition to white

According to experts, people have not only white, but also brown adipose tissue. The latter helps to turn sugar and fat into heat.

Those with brown adipose tissue are better able to regulate their body heat in winter and are less likely to suffer from obesity and diabetes.

An international team of researchers led by Christian Wolfrum, a professor at the translational nutritional biology laboratory of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich), has now discovered that the drug class of statins reduces the formation of brown adipose tissue.

Statins reduce the level of cholesterol in the blood and are prescribed, among other things, for the reduction of heart attack risk. According to a statement from ETH Zurich, these preparations are among the most frequently used drugs worldwide.

Statins reduce activity of brown adipose tissue

Wolfrum and his colleagues have been researching brown adipose tissue for years. The scientists investigated how "good" brown fat cells develop from the "bad" white fat cells that make up the known fat pad.

In cell culture experiments, they have now discovered that the pathway responsible for the production of cholesterol plays a central role in this transformation.

As a key molecule that regulates the transformation, the researchers identified the metabolite geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate.

As known from previous studies, the cholesterol pathway is also central to the action of statins. Among other things, statins lead to a reduced formation of geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate.

Therefore, the researchers wanted to know whether statins also influence the formation of brown adipose tissue. In fact, they are doing so, as scientists have now shown in studies in mice and humans.

Among other things, the experts evaluated positron emission tomography images of around 8,500 patients at the University Hospital Zurich. In these pictures, the scientists were able to detect whether the persons have brown adipose tissue.

In addition, patients knew if they needed to take statins. The evaluation showed that among those who did not need to take such medication, six percent had brown adipose tissue. Among the persons who took statins, only a good one percent had such tissue.

In a separate 16-person clinical study at the University Hospitals in Basel and Zurich, the researchers were also able to show that statins reduce the activity of brown adipose tissue.

Their results were published in the journal "Cell Metabolism".

Cholesterol-lowering drugs save millions of lives

Although the study reveals a negative effect of statins, the ETH professor warns against talking badly about these drugs.

"One must also weigh in the balance that statins are incredibly important for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases. These drugs save millions of lives worldwide and are prescribed for good reasons, "said Wolfrum.

However, there is another negative effect of statins: taken high doses, they increase the risk of developing diabetes in certain people, as known from other studies.

"These two effects - the reduction of brown adipose tissue and the slightly increased risk of diabetes - may be related," says Wolfrum. However, this must first be examined more closely.

But even if such a connection were to prove true, it would not be about demonizing statins, emphasizes the ETH professor.

Rather, one would have to go deeper into the mechanisms of action in further research and find out which patients are affected by the negative effects.

It might be possible to continue to recommend statins with personalized medicine approaches in the majority of patients but would suggest alternative therapies to a small group of patients. (Ad)