Simvastatin reduced serum triglycerides but had no effect on plasma palmitate concentrations in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

“Statins improve all major lipid fractions, reduce coronary heart disease risk, and may have a minor effect on glucose tolerance. A reduction in free fatty acid flux and concentrations could be partly responsible for these effects,” scientists writing in the journal Metabolism - Clinical and Experimental report.

W.L. Isley and colleagues at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester “measured nocturnal and postprandial plasma palmitate concentrations and rate of appearance (R[a]) on 2 occasions in 12 obese dyslipidemic subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus, using a single-blind, crossover format (placebo followed by simvastatin, 80 mg/d), and also on 1 occasion in 6 untreated control subjects.”

The investigators found, “The diabetic subjects had increased average nocturnal (127 (plusminus)13 vs 80(plusminus)10 mcmol/L, p<0.05) and 2-hour postprandial (49(plusminus)6 vs 17(plusminus)2 mcmol/L, p<0.001) palmitate concentrations, as well as increased nocturnal (31.6(plusminus)3.7 vs 19.5(plusminus)3.7 mmol/m(2) over 9 hours, p<0.05) and postprandial (11.5(plusminus)3.7 vs 5.5(plusminus)3.7 mmol/m(2) over 4 hours, p<0.005) integrated palmitate R[a] compared to normal controls.”

The authors concluded, “High-dose simvastatin reduced serum triglycerides by 35% but had no effect on plasma palmitate concentrations or R[a].These results suggest that the triglyceride-lowering effect of statins is not mediated through an effect on FFA metabolism.”

Isley and colleagues published their study in Metabolism - Clinical and Experimental (The effect of high-dose simvastatin on free fatty acid metabolism in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Metabolism, 2006;55(6):758-762).

Additional information can be obtained by contacting W.L. Isley, Mayo Clinic, Division Endocrinol Nutrition & Metab, Endocrine Research Unit, Rochester, MN 55905, USA.

The publisher of the journal Metabolism - Clinical and Experimental can be contacted at: W B Saunders Co-Elsevier Inc., Independence Square West Curtis Center, Ste. 300, Philadelphia, PA 19106-3399, USA.