It looks like it triples (3X) the amount of vitamin D in the blood by reducing the metabolism of vitamin D. Atorvastatin and Rosuvastatin have this effect. Fluvastatin does not.
Compared with that at baseline, atorvastatin at 0.1, 1.0 and 10 mol/l induced 76.2%, 105.8% and 161.9% increase in SR-BI mRNA levels (p < 0.01), respectively. Therefore, our initial hypothesis that rosuvastatin may be increasing vitamin D levels by interfering with the metabolism of vitamin D, may be an inadequate explanation. We propose that some statins may be increasing the absorption of vitamin D by stimulating the expressions of cholesterol transporters. This effect, which was shown with atorvastatin, can be studied with rosuvastatin, and may open up a horizon to explain the link between statins and vitamin D.
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That’s a super interesting topic! And a fantastic find as an introduction to the issue, DeStrider!
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Yes, I am cutting back my 10,000 IUs of daily D3 to 5,000 IUs. I was deficient before starting the statin so I needed to take a high dose. Now, I probably will be fine with 5,000 IUs (or less). Time for another vitamin D blood test!
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adssx
#4
Turkish paper from 2012 with only 21 citations… Here are more recent papers:
Conclusion: statins have no effect on vitamin D levels.
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Interesting study. I’ve checked the one I’m taking, pravastatin and it seems it doesn’t affect Vit-D. Switched to this one many years ago as it has fewer muscle side effects at the low dose I take.
Seems to be a lipophilic effect
From the AI thingy…
No, pravastatin does not appear to affect vitamin D levels:
A study of 14 patients with hypercholesterolemia found no significant changes in vitamin D metabolites after taking pravastatin for eight weeks.
Another study found that pravastatin did not alter vitamin D synthesis in the skin of patients with hypercholesterolemia after up to three months of treatment.
A third study found that pravastatin did not affect vitamin D production in patients who took 10–80 mg of pravastatin daily for three months while also being exposed to ultraviolet B light.
However, it’s difficult to determine how statins affect vitamin D levels, and vice versa. Different statins may affect vitamin D concentrations differently. For example, more lipophilic statins like simvastatin and lovastatin can increase vitamin D metabolites, while less lipophilic statins like pravastatin do not improve vitamin D
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