however, do not distinguish between LDL patterns before
taking out the prescription pad. (To learn the dominant
particle size, along with the number of LDL particles in your
blood, ask your doctor to run an NMR lipid profile.)
Dr. Yeon-Kyun Shin, whom I mentioned earlier, is
among the scientists to validate the notion that cholesterol-
lowering drugs can also lower the brain’s production of
cholesterol. “If you try to lower the cholesterol by taking
medicine that is attacking the machinery of cholesterol
synthesis in the liver, that medicine goes to the brain too.
And then it reduces the synthesis of cholesterol which is
necessary in the brain,” he said in an Iowa State University
release.
Because the brain is made largely of fat, statins with a
higher affinity for fat are more easily able to penetrate the
brain. Atorvastatin, lovastatin, and simvastatin are lipophilic,
or fat-loving, and can cross the blood-brain barrier more
easily. Countless reports have been made of these lipophilic
variants inducing cognitive side effects, mimicking
dementia in extreme cases.^21 (The drug that my mom was
on at the onset of her cognitive symptoms was lovastatin.)
On the other hand, pravastatin, rosuvastatin, and fluvastatin
are more hydrophilic, or water-loving, variants, and may be
somewhat “safer” options.
Statins also lower levels of coenzyme Q 10 (CoQ 10 ), a
nutrient important for brain metabolism. As you’re going to
learn in the next chapter, brain metabolism is vitally
important, and decreased metabolism has been linked as the
earliest measurable feature in preclinical Alzheimer’s