Diet, exercise 'not enough' in lowering cholesterol

Exercise and a healthy diet are almost a waste of time for people with high cholesterol, says a leading cardiologist.

Consultant cardiologist Dr Adrian Brady said research showed that even patients who were treated with drugs were struggling to bring their cholesterol down. He said lifestyle changes were not enough to tackle the problem.

Cholesterol-reducing drugs should be used more regularly and more effectively, he said.

"Healthy diets and exercise of course are good but they don't lower cholesterol an awful lot," said Dr Brady, from the Glasgow Royal Infirmary.

"It's sort of a popular misconception that lots of exercise is good for your cholesterol. It reduces it a wee bit but if you run higher cholesterol you can reduce it by only 8 or 10 per cent if you go nuts on your diet.

"Cholesterol is made by the liver and it's very much something you're born with."

Guidelines under the British National Service Framework for heart disease recommend blood cholesterol levels should be lower than 5 millimoles per litre (mml/l).

The Performance for Life study, headed by Dr Brady and funded by drug company Astrazeneca, used GPs' information on 80,096 heart disease patients from across Britain, collected until March this year.

It showed that only 14,424 of those people were on the cholesterol-reducing drugs known as "statins". Between about a quarter and a half of those people being treated failed to reach cholesterol targets.

Dr Brady's research showed only 48 per cent of patients achieved a 25 per cent cholesterol reduction on their first drug treatment.

Just over half (57 per cent) reached the 25 per cent target after further treatment.

And 23 per cent of those on drugs failed to lower their cholesterol to the British Government's target.

Dr Brady said not enough people with high cholesterol were being treated with drugs, despite the health service in Britain spending £500 million ($1335 million) a year on them. Often people were being treated with the wrong type of drugs or dose.

He said thousands of lives were being lost as a result of poorly managed high cholesterol and greater public awareness was needed.

Missing the mark

* Researchers studied 80,096 heart disease patients; 14,424 were on the cholesterol-reducing drugs known as "statins".

* Only 48 per cent of patients achieved 25 per cent cholesterol reduction on first drug treatment.

* 57 per cent reached the 25 per cent target after further treatment.

* 23 per cent of those on drugs failed to lower cholesterol to the British Government's 5 millimoles a litre target.


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