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Class landing · Statins

Supplements and statins.

Atorvastatin, simvastatin, rosuvastatin and the supplements that do and do not interact.

Statins are the most-prescribed class in the UK (atorvastatin alone is dispensed roughly 73 million times a year). Most supplement-statin interactions are mild, but a few are clinically meaningful.

Niacin in pharmacologic doses alongside simvastatin has documented muscle-toxicity risk and is the most-cited statin-supplement red flag (HPS2-THRIVE). Red yeast rice contains monacolin K, which is biochemically identical to lovastatin, so combining it with a prescribed statin is duplicate dosing. CoQ10 is widely used to offset statin-induced myalgia: the mechanism is plausible and the safety profile is clean, but the best-quality randomised trials have not reliably shown it reduces muscle pain.

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For adults over 18. This tool gives evidence-graded information, not medical advice. Always discuss changes with your GP, especially if you take any medication, are pregnant, breastfeeding, or have a serious health condition.
Type the supplement name. Click each match to add it.
Brand or generic name works. Click each match to add it.
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Pick any that apply. We adjust the findings where context changes the answer.
Add at least one supplement and one medication to check.
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How we decide

How we grade severity, choose what's in scope, and what we exclude.

Every call on this page is reasoned. We publish the full rubric for severity tiers, the medication inclusion logic, the evidence grades we accept, and what we deliberately leave out. About three thousand words. Worth reading once if you use this tool more than occasionally.

Read the full methodology
Your whole stack

Want this checked across everything you take?

This page checks the pairs you enter. The personalised Distil report goes further:

  • the same graded, cited interaction check across your whole stack, not just the pairs you thought to type in
  • where your current routine may be leaving you short of your goals
  • the evidence-backed compounds worth adding, and the ones worth dropping

It's a paid report: £79, or £49 for the first 25 customers. The interactions check is one section of it, and you can read a real one in full before you buy.

See a real sample report
Distil's interactions database is reviewed and updated every quarter. We grade evidence transparently and publish our methodology, including every database change, at /about/methodology. This tool is information, not a substitute for clinical judgement. If you take medication and supplements together, your GP or pharmacist can review your full regimen against your medical history. If you want a full personalised stack reasoned against this same database, the Distil report is the next step up.