Zetia®

What is Zetia?

Zetia is a medicine that’s used alongside a low-cholesterol diet to treat high cholesterol. This is where there’s too much “bad” cholesterol, called low-density lipoprotein (or LDL) cholesterol, in your blood. Large amounts of cholesterol in your blood can cause your blood vessels to narrow and block, increasing your risk of heart disease or stroke.

Zetia can be used to treat high cholesterol on its own, or alongside other cholesterol medications called statins or fibrates.

How does Zetia work?

The active ingredient in Zetia is known as ezetimibe, and it’s a little different from most other cholesterol medications. It works in your small intestine to reduce the amount of cholesterol you absorb from your food, so less is transported from your intestine to your liver. This means your liver is better able to clear cholesterol in your blood, lowering your overall levels.^[1] That’s why it’s really important that you eat a low-cholesterol diet while taking Zetia – because a healthy diet helps make it even more effective in reducing cholesterol levels.

Because Zetia works differently than statins, the two treatments can be used together to increase their effectiveness. While Zetia limits how much cholesterol you absorb from food, statins reduce the amount produced by your liver. This allows your liver to better remove cholesterol from your blood.

And studies show that using both treatments together leads to additional cholesterol-lowering effects. A 2018 literature review found that combining ezetimibe with statins led to a significantly greater total lowering of LDL cholesterol (34-61%) compared to using statins alone.^[2]

What doses does Zetia come in?

Zetia only comes in one dose, a 10 mg tablet you’ll take once a day. So if Zetia 10mg doesn’t help to reduce your cholesterol, you might need to try an alternative treatment – or take Zetia in combination with other cholesterol lowering drugs like statin (because there aren’t any other doses of Zetia available).

How to take Zetia

Before you start taking Zetia, it’s important to start a low-cholesterol diet to get the most out of your treatment. Keep this diet up while you’re using Zetia to get the best results.

You’ll take your Zetia tablet once a day, and you can take it with or without food. Try taking your tablet around the same time every day to get into the habit, so you don’t accidentally miss your dose (setting an alarm can help). You can take Zetia whenever it works for you. Studies indicate the time you take ezetimibe has no effect on how well it’ll work.^[1]

If you’re using a statin alongside Zetia, you can take both medicines at the same time.

If you’re using a different medication that contains the active ingredient colestyramine (or any type of bile acid sequestrant) you’ll need to take Zetia at least two hours before or four hours after the sequestrant.

How long does it take for Zetia to work?

Zetia’s active ingredient ezetimibe gets absorbed really quickly, with it reaching maximum concentration in your body within four hours of taking your tablet.^[2] But it usually takes about two weeks of taking Zetia before it has a noticeable effect on your cholesterol levels.^[3]

What should I do if I make a mistake taking Zetia?

You should always take Zetia exactly as your physician has told you to. If you forget to take your dose of Zetia, unless it’s almost time for your next dose, you can take it as soon as you remember. But if it is close to your next dose, skip the one you missed and continue your schedule as normal from there. Never take two tablets at once to make up for missing a dose.

If you accidentally take too much Zetia, let your clinician know. But you can rest easy knowing that in clinical studies, there were no reported adverse effects to elevated doses of Zetia.^[3]