Regular doses of statins reduce the chance of developing the crippling condition by nearly half, a study found.

The finding raises hopes that the drugs could be used to prevent, or delay, the onset of an illness that afflicts 350,000 Britons.

A breakthrough is vital because there is no cure for arthritis and existing treatments can cause heart attacks and strokes.

Israeli researchers trawled almost two million health records for information about arthritis-free patients who had been started on statins to cut their cholesterol.

Those who took the drugs regularly were 42 per cent less likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis than those who took them only occasionally.

And the younger a person was when they started on statins, the greater the benefits to their joints.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1309998/Patients-statins-lower-cholesterol-risk-arthritis-study-finds.html

Taking a statin pill every day would offset the harm caused by a daily cheeseburger and milkshake, the Imperial College London team said.

It would only cost 5p a customer – similar to a sachet of ketchup.

But the British Heart Foundation warned an unhealthy diet does more harm than just raising cholesterol.

Writing in the American Journal of Cardiology, Dr Darrel Francis and colleagues said it was about reducing harm in the same way that people who smoke are encouraged to use filters and those who drive are told to wear seatbelts.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-10955522

Cambridge University researchers looked at the role of triglycerides, which is produced in the liver and derived from foods such as meat and dairy products.

The analysis of 350,000 people from 101 previous studies found those with higher levels of the blood fat were more likely to have heart disease.

But experts warned more research was needed to confirm the link.

The analysis centred on a specific gene which is known to influence the levels of triglycerides, the Lancet medical journal reported.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8664917.stm

Analysis of data from 79,000 people showed the protein, known as Lp-PLA2, also boosts the risk of stroke and early death, the Lancet reports.

Drugs against the protein, which is involved in inflammation in blood vessels, are already being developed.

But it remains to be seen whether such treatments cut rates of heart disease.

The UK researchers who led the international study said Lp-PLA2 is carried in the blood alongside LDL or “bad” cholesterol.

Although smoking, diabetes, high blood pressure, and high levels of bad cholesterol are known to cause coronary heart disease, they do not entirely explain its high incidence in the population.

This has prompted researchers to look for other factors that put people at risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Drugs which block Lp-PLA2 are of interest to researchers because studies had shown this protein is present in high levels in people with damaged arteries.

In fact two large trials are being done with one particular drug in people who already have heart disease.

Yet the extent of the link between the protein and the risk of heart disease and stroke has not been clear.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8652005.stm

Men aged between 45 and 54 who took the cholesterol-lowering pills virtually every day reduced their risk of cataracts later in life by 38 per cent compared with those who took them rarely, according to a study in the journal Annals of Epidemiology.

In women of the same age, the risk was reduced by about 18 per cent.

But those aged 75 or more when they started on statins saw very little reduction in risk.

Scientists who carried out the study of 180,000 people at Tel Aviv University in Israel said there was evidence that statins protect the eyes by reducing inflammation and protecting cells against a harmful process called oxidation.

About 200,000 people are year are treated for cataracts in Britain, a figure that is expected to rise significantly due to the ageing population.