Here’s a surprise: Statins’ “fringe benefits” may be even more important than their original reason for being: preventing heart attacks and strokes. What’s made statins such superpowers?

First, they reduce lousy LDL cholesterol, which helps keep your arteries younger, more flexible and freer of plaque. That’s terrific for your heart, brain and every one of your roughly 10 trillion cells. Second, statins cool chronic inflammation, which effectively cools cancer activity and cardiovascular mayhem, not to mention reducing inflammatory diseases like arthritis. That’s not (nearly) all. Statins also:

Æ Protect against prostate cancer, enlarged prostates and erectile dysfunction.

Æ Fend off dangerous blood clots in your legs and lungs.

Æ Slash your risk of cataracts.

Æ Protect against Alzheimer’s. Some statins — particularly Crestor and Lipitor (atorvastatin) — could cut your risk by 60 percent.

Æ Help protect type 2 diabetics against your extra-high threat of heart disease.

And there’s more. Check out this news:

Turns out that the top benefit of taking statins for years isn’t protecting you against heart disease and stroke, though that doesn’t waver. Long-term use also greatly reduces your chances of dying from infectious diseases, surprising even statin researchers.

Brand-new data also shows that if you get a seriously nasty flu infection (flu kills thousands every year), statins are life savers. People hospitalized for influenza who don’t take statins are almost twice as likely to die from flu as those who do.

The You Docs — Mehmet Oz, host of “The Dr. Oz Show” and Mike Roizen of Cleveland Clinic — are authors of “YOU: Losing Weight.” To submit questions, go to www.RealAge.com. A King Features syndicate.