We prospectively hypothesized that alcohol would not reduce the MACE risk in statin users. We also tested whether an alcohol-related benefit would be observed in non-statin users, especially in the primary prevention cohort. For example, females are much more sensitive to the effects of alcohol because they have lower levels of the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase, which breaks down alcohol (15).
How does alcohol affect cholesterol levels?
Excessive drinking also can lead to heart muscle disease (cardiomyopathy), irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia), and stroke. Eventually, heavy alcohol use can leave the heart too weak to pump efficiently, a condition called congestive heart failure. If you drink alcohol and are taking Lipitor, let your healthcare provider know.
Sign up for free and stay up to date on research advancements, health tips, current health topics, and expertise on managing health. This section collects any data citations, data availability statements, or supplementary materials included in this article. Informed consent was obtained for entry into the INSPIRE registry from all subjects involved in the study. Those providing written consent and completing and returning the demographic- and lifestyle-related questionnaire formed the current study population. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist if you want to understand more about the medicine you have been prescribed.
If you’d like to have caffeine while you’re taking Lipitor, talk with your doctor. They can determine how much caffeine may famous fetal alcohol syndrome be safe during your treatment. Before you start treatment for high cholesterol, your doctor will recommend the best plan for you. In some cases, they may recommend taking Zetia and Lipitor together.
Alcohol has a hormetic physiological behavior that results in either increased or decreased cardiovascular risk depending on the amount consumed, drinking frequency, pattern of consumption, and the outcomes under study or even the type of alcoholic beverage consumed. However, the vast majority of studies elucidating the role of alcohol in cardiovascular and in the global burden of disease relies on epidemiological studies of associative nature which carry several limitations. This is why the cardiovascular benefits of low–moderate alcohol consumption are being questioned and perhaps might have been overestimated. Thus, the aim of this review was to critically discuss the current knowledge on the relationship between alcohol intake and cardiovascular disease.
Preventing interactions
- Statin drugs such as Lipitor may actually decrease the amount of CoQ10 in your body.
- This area of research was briefly outlined here; more comprehensive reviews on these mechanisms are available (Krenz and Korthuis 2012; Mathews et al. 2015).
- If you take St. John’s Wort, be sure to tell your doctor before you begin taking Lipitor.
- Your doctor can determine whether Lipitor is safe for you to take.
- This can help prevent interactions between Viagra and your other medications.
Several years ago, the FDA recommended regular enzyme testing for statin patients. It’s important to be as specific with your doctor as possible about your drinking habits, including how much you drink per week, what type of alcohol you consume, and how long you have been drinking in these quantities. Other ethanol-induced changes may be related to enzymes that modulate protein synthesis and/or breakdown (e.g., ubiquitine-ligases).
Lipitor and health-related interactions
Differences among results from human studies may relate to small sample sizes, duration of drinking, and degree of myocardial dysfunction. In the Miró study, alcohol drinkers also had been receiving pharmacologic treatments such as beta-adrenergic blocking agents that reduce blood pressure and also may have antioxidant effects. In various biologic systems, oxidative stress can be measured or inferred by several biologic indexes. Pathophysiologic schema for the development of alcoholic cardiomyopathy (ACM).
Derangements in Fatty Acid Metabolism and Transport
However, these changes were transient, with small changes from baseline. For example, in one study, the ejection fraction decreased by 4 percent after alcohol consumption (Delgado et al. 1975). Most likely, the decrease in contractility was offset by corresponding decreases in afterload (end-systolic wall stress), systemic vascular resistance, and aortic peak pressure, which maintained cardiac output. Maintaining a healthy diet and lifestyle — which includes limiting alcohol, keeping a moderate body weight, staying active, and following a nutritious diet — promotes healthy cholesterol levels and reduces your risk of heart disease and other conditions. Although maintaining healthy cholesterol levels is essential to reducing heart disease risk, many factors contribute to this condition, including blood pressure, genetics, and sex (19).
Heavy drinking is consistently tied to negative health outcomes, including high LDL (bad) cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood pressure (7, 8, 9, 10). Having higher levels of HDL cholesterol may help protect against heart disease and related death. Viagra is used to treat erectile dysfunction (ED), which is a common condition in people with heart disease. And Lipitor is approved to decrease the risk of cardiovascular problems in some people with heart disease.
Since moderate to high alcohol intake can also elevate liver enzymes, the combination of heavy drinking and statins will increase the chances of abnormal test results. This is because heavy drinking and statin use, although rare, can both potentially interfere with liver function. Therefore, taking the two together might put people at a greater risk of liver-related health problems. In healthy young men and, to a lesser extent, women, alcohol consumption has been shown to inhibit platelet reactivity 86,87 without altering platelet count 88. However, the relationship between heavy alcohol consumption and thrombosis remains blurred because of the controversial results found in different trials 89.
The package insert for Praluent (alirocumab) and Repatha (evolocumab) do not list alcohol (ethanol) as a possible drug-drug interaction. However, these agents work in the liver and Praluent has been linked with elevated liver enzymes, which may signal liver toxicity. Drinking alcohol with this medicine may increase your chance of having liver problems or make your liver problems worse. When people do experience side effects from taking statins, they are typically minor and resolve once a person stops taking the statins or changes their dosage. Statins can also increase the risk of developing benign proteinuria, a condition in which there is excess protein in the urine.