EASY ON THE FATS

Despite what an increasing number of patients seem to think, taking cholesterol-lowering drugs is not a free pass to eat whatever they want. A new study found that people who were prescribed statins to lower cholesterol and ward off heart disease and other health risks consumed 9.6 percent more calories and 14.4 percent more fat in 2009–10 than their counterparts did in 1999–2000, the Los Angeles Times reports. The findings, which draw on data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey of more than 27,000 adults, also showed that statin users’ daily intake of fat and calories is now greater than that of individuals who are not taking cholesterol drugs at all. One in six American adults currently takes statins to lower cholesterol. “Physicians prescribe statins to decrease patients’ cardiovascular risks that cannot be achieved without medications,” says Takehiro Sugiyama, who led the research at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine, “not to empower them to put butter on steaks.”