Lipid-lowering agent

The lipid-lowering agents are also called cholesterol-lowering agents and are medicines which reduce blood cholesterol concentrations to bring them close to normal values. There are several families of treatments although all of these medicines must be taken used together with lifestyle and dietetic measures (following a healthy varied diet, physical exercise, etc.).

Cholesterol is produced by the liver from fats in our diet. It is essential for us as it is used to form cell membranes and some hormones. The equation is simple: the more fat we eat the more cholesterol our liver produces. There are two types of cholesterol: HDL (High-density lipoprotein) and LDL (Low-density lipoprotein). Very diagrammatically, the role of HDL is to clean our arteries of the fats deposited by the second (LDL). In other words, the more "cleansing" HDL there is compared to the "furring up" LDL, the cleaner our arteries are. Conversely, the more LDL, the more obstructed they become.

The different families of lipid-lowering agents

The aim of cholesterol-lowering treatments is therefore to reduce "bad" cholesterol levels. At present there are four major families of lipid lowering agents.

• resins;
• fibrates ;
• statins;
• intestinal absorption inhibitors.

Note that cholesterol-lowering treatments must always be combined with appropriate lifestyle and dietetic measures: a healthy varied diet, low in animal fats, and regular physical exercise. Ask your general practitioner if you have any questions.

Source: Cholesterol from Drs Philippe Giral and Emmanuel Cuzin