Traditionally, statins were viewed as cholesterol-lowering drugs, but they benefit as a risk reducing drug.
Statins also known as HMG-COA reductase inhibitors, and are a class of lipid lowering medications.
When you get your blood work done your PCP will look at HDL, LDL, triglycerides, and total cholesterol. The LDL is the “bad” cholesterol, which you want below roughly 150 mg/dL. The HDL is the “good” cholesterol, which you want to be above 40 mg/dL.
I know of someone that takes a statin, and I suspected that with the lifestyle this individual has, it could lead to type II diabetes. Upon my research I have found that berberine may help with controlling the blood sugar. Berberine is a compound found in plants, and it’s bioavailable form is dihydroberberine. The regular berberine supplement you get from amazon has poor bioavailability meaning it doesn’t absorb too well into the system.
I found that the supplement below has helped this individual control the blood sugar levels, and overall may enhance gastrointestinal motility (make better bowel movements):
While still being fully characterized, mechanistic actions of berberine consist of it reducing blood lipid levels via action on hepatocyte nuclear factor 1 alpha (HNF-1 alpha) and hepatic LDL receptors, intestinal absorption of cholesterol [4], and glucose levels while increasing insulin sensitivity.
Moon JM, Ratliff KM, Hagele AM, Stecker RA, Mumford PW, Kerksick CM. Absorption Kinetics of Berberine and Dihydroberberine and Their Impact on Glycemia: A Randomized, Controlled, Crossover Pilot Trial. Nutrients. 2021 Dec 28;14(1):124. doi: 10.3390/nu14010124. PMID: 35010998; PMCID: PMC8746601.
Here is the one we’ve been using for this individual, and it’s been passed as a OK from the PCP to use in addition to the statin: https://www.endur.com/products/dihydroberberine-sr-150-mg-sustained-release
This individual I speak of in the video, is genetically predisposed to high cholesterol because their liver overproduces cholesterol hence why I looked into a supplement that may help any negative side effects like insulin resistance as a result of using a statin.
Be well.
Yelena
For coaching nutrition, health, and training email espinozi.yelena@gmail.com.
Dihydroberberine, Statins, Lipid Metabolism