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If you’ve spent any time on social media lately, you may have seen alarming posts claiming that statin medications can cause dementia or memory loss due to their cholesterol lowering effects. These posts spread widely every few years, leaving people who take these cholesterol-lowering drugs—or those who might benefit from them—worried and confused.
Here’s what you need to know: the claim that low blood cholesterol—and therefore statin use—causes dementia is not supported by a large body of scientific and clinical evidence. In fact, extensive research shows the opposite is true: that statins are a safe tool for helping prevent cardiovascular disease—which is the leading cause of death in the United States and most parts of the world—and that lower cholesterol levels, and indeed statin use, do not cause dementia and may in fact be associated with reduced dementia risk, not the other way around.
What the research shows
The evidence for statins preventing heart attacks, strokes, and cardiovascular death is overwhelming, coming from decades of rigorous research involving millions of people. What's more, there is ample evidence that these drugs are at worst neutral, and at best beneficial, for brain health.