What Foods You Should Avoid with Cholesterol Tablets

Laura: Hi, I'm Laura from Tipp City, Ohio. I'm 50 years old and I was wondering, are there any foods that I should avoid when taking cholesterol medicine?

Dr. Javed Butler: Laura this is a really important question from several different perspective. The first and the most important thing is that while you're taking the cholesterol medication, you need to continue taking a heart healthy diet, low in cholesterol because taking a diet which is high in cholesterol will defeat the purpose of taking a cholesterol pill. So along with the cholesterol medication, maintaining a healthy dietary habit is really important.

The second issue is that grapefruit juice tends to interact with the same liver enzyme that metabolizes the cholesterol medication and therefore can affect its efficacy. So avoiding grapefruit juice is important while you're taking the cholesterol medications called statins.

And then the third and the last issue is can you take the cholesterol medications with food? Generally speaking, it really doesn’t matter whether you would take it with or without food as far as you keep taking it the same time during the day. But it really depends on which cholesterol medication you're taking specifically and you perhaps ought to discuss that with your physician.


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