Here’s yet another reason to try a vegetarian diet first, in the ongoing battle against artery-clogging cholesterol. Cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins increase the risk of type 2 diabetes, according to a study in the Archives of Internal Medicine. Researchers with the Women’s Health Initiative determined this, after following a group of postmenopausal women for many years. Women taking a statin drug in the beginning of the study had a 48 percent greater risk of developing diabetes, compared with nonusers. This study adds to several others showing a link between statin drugs and increased risk of diabetes.