Study finds one way statins can cause diabetes, and a solution Premium

Study finds ursodeoxycholic acid can counteract statins' risk of inducing diabetes, offering potential solution to the common medication’s side effect.

Administering ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) can stave off the tendency of statins to induce glucose intolerance and diabetes, a study by a group of researchers in China has found.

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Statins are prescribed to people with a high risk of cardiovascular disease. They work by blocking the activity of an enzyme involved in the metabolic pathway that produces LDL, or “bad”, cholesterol. Statins are on the World Health Organisation’s list of essential medicines and among the most sold drugs worldwide.

However, many studies have found statins could increase the risk of developing diabetes. “It has been known for a few years now that statins can induce glucose intolerance and even frank diabetes in some people,” V. Mohan, chairman of the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation, said over phone to The Hindu.

He added that doctors have continued to prescribe them because statins’ benefits “far outweigh the risk”.

Nonetheless, the mechanism by which statins have this effect has been unclear.

In the study, published in the February edition of Cell Metabolism, the researchers reported one mechanism through which statins could increase glucose intolerance, involving UDCA, a bile acid.