High cholesterol is just one of many things that can cause heart disease — like smoking, being inactive, or having high blood pressure.

“Statins also don't lower blood pressure. They don't improve your fitness. They don't eliminate cardiovascular risk. And they certainly don't make up for poor diet, inactivity, smoking, chronic stress, or poor sleep. The reason this matters is that cardiovascular disease is a multi-lane highway. LDL cholesterol is one lane, but there's also inflammation, insulin resistance, blood pressure, endothelial dysfunction, oxidative stress, clotting factors, and metabolic health in general.”