Why is HDL Cholesterol Considered to be ‘Good’?
There are some very interesting questions coming out regarding the benefits of HDL cholesterol.
High HDL cholesterol has always been encouraged because people with higher HDL cholesterol levels have a reduced risk for heart disease. If you have low HDL cholesterol levels it’s likely that your doctor recommended you to boost levels through diet and exercise or by taking niacin supplements. This is due to the long held belief that HDL cholesterol reduces heart disease risk by “picking up” artery clogging cholesterol from circulation.
A new study utilizing modern genetic testing is challenging this theory, finding that there may not be a direct cause-and-effect relationship between reduced heart disease risk and high HDL cholesterol levels. Study findings indicate the high HDL levels themselves may not be protective on their own. These high HDL levels may be an indicator of something else reducing heart disease risk.
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Lower LDL Cholesterol and Live Longer
New results indicate individuals with low LDL cholesterol have a longer lifespan.
A study published in the Annals of Surgery and conducted at the University of Minnesota Medical School between 1975 and 2000 evaluated 838 heart attack survivors between the ages of 38-60 years-old. Out of the 838 participants 417 were instructed to go on a diet and 421 were instructed to diet combined with a partial ileal bypass surgery which bypasses the small intestine and location for cholesterol absorption. This is not a common surgery and typically reserved for high-risk heart attack patients who cannot tolerate statin medications. After 25 years, the participants in the second group had an increased life expectancy of one year.
