Statins: Good for your liver?

By ACSH Staff — Nov 24, 2010
Statins have been long-feared to damage liver function in some cases, but a new study in The Lancet suggests the opposite is true. The study of 437 patients with abnormal liver tests found those taking statins did not have a higher rate of liver problems than the control group, and in fact had a decreased level of a biomarker that indicates liver problems.

Statins have been long-feared to damage liver function in some cases, but a new study in The Lancet suggests the opposite is true. The study of 437 patients with abnormal liver tests found those taking statins did not have a higher rate of liver problems than the control group, and in fact had a decreased level of a biomarker that indicates liver problems.

“This ground-breaking study reverses medical perceptions about the risk/benefit profile of statins,” says ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross. “Not only is the concern about statins and elevated LFTs fallacious — statins actually improve liver tests AND are more effective against cardiovascular disease in those same patients...truly a paradigm changer.”