How Ray Zapped His Cholesterol

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One man found that statin drugs, paired with healthful eating and exercise, knocked his stubborn cholesterol levels down a notch.

Ray was worried. He walked 30 minutes at least four times a week, was doing his best to eat heart-healthy meals, and had dropped 5 pounds, all in a diligent effort to rein in his cholesterol—and reduce his risk of heart attack. But his cholesterol level seemed stuck at a whopping 232.

Ray had reason to be concerned. Heart problems run in his family—his father was disabled by a heart attack at age 52 and died soon afterward. “Dad was my role model,” Ray told his doctor, “but I don’t want that to happen to me.”

It probably won’t, thanks to statins—the cholesterol-lowering medication hailed as a miracle drug by some cardiologists and prescribed to an estimated 36 million people.

Cholesterol Terms
When Mevacor, the first statin drug, hit the market in 1987, it set off a buzz of new jargon: LDL, HDL—bad cholesterol and good cholesterol. All at once, people were comparing their cholesterol numbers like golf scores. But even though cholesterol is now part of our language, not everyone completely understands it.

Some people have high levels of cholesterol because of the foods they eat; others simply produce more than they need. Our bodies use cholesterol to produce bile that helps digest fats in the foods we eat. It also has an important role in the production of vitamin D and other hormones. When low-density lipoprotein (LDL), or bad cholesterol, is high, the soft, fatlike substance can accumulate on artery walls, producing atherosclerotic plaque. This plaque can be a precursor to stroke and heart attack.

Statins lower LDL cholesterol by blocking an enzyme that causes the liver to produce cholesterol. The drugs are also capable of raising high-density lipoprotein (HDL), or good cholesterol, which helps reduce the risk of a cardiac event. High cholesterol is often defined as a total cholesterol of 200 or higher, HDL under 40, and LDL above 130 for those without risk factors. However, a lower LDL is better, especially for women over 55, men over 45, and anyone who smokes, has high blood pressure, low HDL numbers, or diabetes—or a family history of heart disease.