A clear link between statins and improved gut microbiota has been found, but not the mechanism behind the effect, according to the authors of a European study.
The EU-based study, which involved 14 research groups from six countries and was published in Nature, found improvement in gut microbiota in a participant group taking statins.
The authors said it was not yet known whether statins affect bacteria in the gut directly, or whether they affect both gut and immune cells that then help modify the microbiota.
The finding, which is part of a broader effort to clarify whether and how gut microbiota may be linked to cardiovascular disease, investigated more than 2,000 Europeans with varying degrees of metabolic and cardiovascular disease.
The researchers hope that the findings will open the way for new forms of treatment to change the ecology in the gut, but said that further studies were needed.
Source: MedicalXpress
