In a recently released study, researchers have found that statin drugs such as Crestor, Lipitor and Zocor, taken by patients suffering from high LDL, the “bad” cholesterol levels, reduce the chances of cardiovascular diseases so significantly that it led to high HDL, the good cholesterol.

It was widely known that in order to stay on the safe side, a person should maintain a low LDL cholesterol level and a high HDL level, simultaneously. However, this new study, called JUPITER (Justification for the Use of Statins in Primary Prevention), showed that the privileges offered by a boosted HDL level became less beneficial to patients already on statin.

Further studies discovered that statin limits the risk of heart attacks and strokes by 44% in patients with low and average LDL levels.

Dr. Paul Ridker, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention, said, "One of the implications of this work is to rethink just how important HDL cholesterol remains once we get LDL levels very low with potent statin therapy”.

Despite these results, Dr. Ridker added that patients still need to have a properly high HDL cholesterol level even if statin has proved sufficiently effective.