Just Ask Terry

Terry is happy to provide his opinion on diet and nutrition, supplements and lifestyle choices. This information is for educational purposes only. It is not meant to replace the advice of your physician and is not to be considered medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Should you have any concerns please contact your physician directly.

Q. Hi Terry, “Regarding vitamin D–I know there is a lot in the news about how much we need it and how little we are getting from our diet and sunlight, especially if a person has dark skin (like me) and lives in the north (like me). So I have been taking vitamin D every day. However, I heard something that I want to check out with you. I heard that cholesterol drugs destroy vitamin D. Is that true? I take one of these drugs.” —Shawna P., Detroit, MI A. Dear Shawna, I am so glad that you are learning about how very healthy adding vitamin D to your daily routine can be. I can hardly begin to list the number of illnesses for which low vitamin D is a contributor—Alzheimer’s, many cancers, pregnancy problems, poor infant development, multiple sclerosis—and many more. I wish more people would follow your lead, because we could probably dramatically reduce the amount of illness in this country if everyone had optimal levels of this crucial vitamin. In answer to your question, cholesterol drugs do not destroy vitamin D, but most natural health experts and researchers believe that they greatly interfere with how vitamin D is created in the body. The cholesterol drugs in widest use are called “statin drugs” and include brand names like Zocor, Lipitor, Crestor, Mevacor, Vytorin, and others. They strongly inhibit your body’s ability to make cholesterol. Only about 20% of your cholesterol is from your diet, and if you are a vegan vegetarian, none of your cholesterol is from your diet, because cholesterol is only found in foods derived from the animal kingdom. The rest of your cholesterol—the 80 to 100%–is actually made by your body because your body needs it as building blocks. Your hormones, for example, are made using cholesterol. Vitamin D is a pro-hormone, and it is created using cholesterol as a raw material as well. Your body makes vitamin D, and this is triggered by sunlight striking your skin. You need about 15 to 30 minutes of sunlight a day with most of your skin exposed (no sunscreen) to get this process in motion to create good amounts of vitamin D. If you don’t have healthy levels of cholesterol, your body cannot make optimal levels of this vitamin. In the book, Statin Drugs Side Effects and the Misguided War on Cholesterol, former astronaut and US Air Force flight surgeon Dr. Duane Graveline MD MPH discussed the vital role of cholesterol in the human body. He reports that “most important hormones depend upon adequate reserves of cholesterol for their production and nowhere is this more important than as the precursor substance for the synthesis of Vitamin D, known also as calcitrol.” He goes on to state that the overuse of statin drugs is contributing significantly to the epidemic of vitamin D deficiency. Though mainstream medicine has not yet fully examined this negative consequence of statin drug use, there is a recent study published that includes this topic [Rezen T, Rozman D, Pascussi JM, Monostory K. Interplay between cholesterol and drug metabolism. Biochim Biophys Acta. 2010 Jun 4. PMID: 20570756] and discusses cholesterol’s relationship to hormones, Vitamin D and coenzyme Q10. I would certainly recommend that anyone on a cholesterol lowering drug take at least 4000 IUs of vitamin D daily and likely more, based on his or her doctor’s advice. It may also be useful to reduce or eliminate the statin drug you are taking (with your doctor’s approval and oversight) and work towards achieving healthy cholesterol balance with more natural methods: exercise, healthy diet heavy with fruits and vegetables, and dietary supplements that improve levels of HDLs (which protect your heart). For more information on achieving natural cholesterol balance, see my article on the Terry Talks Nutrition website entitled Alternatives to Dangerous Drugs.