London - Many popular pills – including some cholesterol-busting statins – would be better taken at night than in the morning, scientists believe.
They say widely-used tablets such as low-dose aspirin would be more effective if timed with the body’s natural rhythms.
Scientists showed that individual genes are governed by the body clock and become more or less active at certain times of the day. They found that nearly half of all mouse genes work harder at some points in the 24-hour cycle than others, with “rush hours” of activity just before dawn and dusk.
Although the study was on mice, most mouse genes have “twins” in humans. Many common drugs home in on these genes and so should be most effective when the genes are most active. This is particularly important in the case of medicines such as aspirin, which are broken down quickly by the body.
The University of Pennsylvania study found 56 of the 100 best-selling drugs in the US act on genes that ebb and flow over the day.
Similarly, 119 of the 250 pills on the World Health Organisation’s list of essential medicines may work better at a certain time of the day, the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reports. Pennsylvania University’s pharmacology professor John Hogenesch said more work was needed to say when was the best time to take each pill. However, research already shows that low-dose aspirin, taken daily by millions of Britons who have survived a heart attack or stroke to keep their blood thin, is best taken at night.
This ensures the drug has time to work before morning – the peak time for heart attacks. Likewise, simvastatin, one of the most widely-used cholesterol-lowering statin pills, should also be taken at bedtime. This is because the drug works by blocking a key step in the production of cholesterol, and the gene behind this step is most active at night. Patients are already told to take simvastatin in the evening, however many still take it at the wrong time.
Some will take the drug in the morning to prevent them forgetting.
Professor Hogenesch said: “There’s a huge opportunity for improving the action of existing drugs through better timing.”
Heidi Wright, of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, said: “Simvastatin…is best taken at bedtime as your liver makes most of your cholesterol at night.
“Low-dose aspirin works by making your blood less sticky. There is research that says more heart attacks occur in the morning, so reducing this stickiness by the morning could help prevent heart attacks.” – Daily Mail