Impact of Statins on Brain Function

I was keen to understand your thoughts about statins and their effect on the

brain.

The brain is rich in cholesterol for a reason.

Cholesterol isn't just something bad to be bludgeoned into submission with a

medication. Cholesterol is a vital molecule,

um, essential for all cellular life.

The problem with statin drugs is that all of them, to a greater or lesser

extent, it depends on which one we're talking about,

but all of them

cross the blood-brain barrier.

All of them interfere with cholesterol production in the brain.

And, and I've had many patients over the years,

um, who have

started a statin medication and within days, and this has

happened more times than I can count so I'm absolutely convinced this is a

real, this is a real phenomenon,

they start to have problems with their memory.

They start to have problems thinking clearly.

They start to have problems with word finding.

These are sometimes people in their 30s and 40s.

Stop the statin, their mind clears up within days.

Start the statin back up again, the cognitive impairment occurs again.

The way statins work is they interfere, they turn

down

the enzyme, the activity of the enzyme responsible

for building cholesterol mol- molecules.

If the brain can't build cholesterol molecules, it's in trouble