Good news for the millions of Americans who take cholesterol-lowering statin drugs: A new study has found they don’t cause memory loss.

The findings, by researchers from Rutgers University and University of Pennsylvania, are based on a study of nearly 1 million patients, Medical Xpress reports.

Past studies have suggested some patients have experienced memory lapses after taking popular lipid-lowering drugs (LLDs) statins, noted lead researcher Brian L. Strom, chancellor of Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences. As a result, some have stopped taking their statins, inappropriately, Strom said.

But the new study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, compared new users of statins with people not taking statins and found those taking the drugs were not more likely to report memory lapses.

One in four Americans over age 45 take statins, drugs that inhibit a liver enzyme that controls the synthesis of cholesterol and lowers LDL, commonly known as "bad cholesterol."

Statins have proven very effective at lowering high cholesterol, one of the major risk factors for heart disease, and preventing heart attacks and deaths.