Statins could hurt your sex life

Statins are great at helping to lower cholesterol, but there's a catch, a new study suggests: The better they work at lowering cholesterol, the more sexual pleasure is reduced. The six-month, government-funded study involved more than 1,000 adults with high LDL -- "bad cholesterol" -- but no heart disease. Participants took either a statin or a placebo. In the study, the ability to have an orgasm dropped along with LDL levels, said study leader Beatrice Golomb of the University of California-San Diego School of Medicine. Patients who took simvastatin, or Zocor, had the biggest LDL drop, but men rated their sexual pleasure as sinking by nearly half over the study period. Women were somewhat better off, "but some definitely were affected," Golomb said. Pravastatin, or Pravachol, reduced LDL less and didn't have a significant effect on orgasms. The study was presented at a conference of the American Psychosomatic Society in Chicago last week. The findings should spur doctors to routinely ask patients about changes in sexual pleasure, said Dr. Lori Mosca, director of preventive cardiology at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. - Sun-Times