Here’s an interesting item:
“Good’ Cholesterol Not So Good After All, New Study Shows
The revelation that high-density lipoprotein, or HDL, is the “good cholesterol’ has suffered a major blow. A meta-study involving over a hundred thousand participants used two different strategies to see if genetic mutations that increased levels of HDL also decreased risk for heart disease. In both cases the answer was a resounding no. The researchers were shocked when they saw the data. Now it’s their turn to shock HDL proponents and drug companies looking to cash in on the HDL craze.
The study, which was published recently in The Lancet, is causing quite a stir in the field. As Dr. James de Lemos, from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, told the New York Times, “I’d say the HDL hypothesis is on the ropes right now.’ Dr. de Lemos was not involved in the study.
So what’s the story here? How is it possible that LDL/HDL dichotomy has propagated so powerfully through conventional wisdom that even the CDC refers to them as “good’ and “bad’ cholesterols and pharmaceutical companies like Abbot Laboratories are working hard to get in on the HDL cash cow?
Past studies have shown that much of what increases our risk for heart disease, like obesity, lack of exercise, smoking, and insulin resistance, is correlated with low HDL. It was a logical conclusion, then, that by increased HDL levels we could decrease those risks. But correlation doesn’t mean causation, and the takeaway conclusion from the current study is that decreased HDL is simply a sign of increased risk for heart disease but the level of HDL doesn’t actually affect heart disease.
Next, perhaps: LDL doesn’t cause heart disease, either.
6 Comments
Reads like I shoulda been paying attention to Suzanne Somers all along. Dennis maybe.
I try to keep up with the literature on heart disease, cholesterol, etc. My family suffers from high BP, and the men die from heart attacks at around the age of 65. (I’m 60, and I already have 2 stents). I take high doses of Crestor, and yes, my bones ache, my memory isn’t what it use to be (or what I remember it to be), and I’m very very weak.
I don’t know, though. The literature is very confusing, and I think we need to be careful of the “outlier effect”, the idea that a single study that says the opposite of all the other studies must be the right one. So far, I’m sticking with Crestor, and I’ll just assume the benefits outweigh the side effects (like a stroke).
I’ve been prescribed Zocor for a number of years and although my family history is much the same (the only personal exception being my own BP – low) this study seems different in that:
“A meta-study involving over a hundred thousand participants used two different strategies to see if genetic mutations that increased levels of HDL also decreased risk for heart disease…”
“Most” of the literature I’m familiar with involved far fewer individuals and were performed at the behest of the interested pharmaceutical companies.
Well Dom, until the most recent post, I was thinking it Medical Studies Day and so waded in – I worry about heart attacks – you on the other hand, strokes.
http://content.onlinejacc.org/cgi/content/full/57/10/1210
And bananas are cheaper than salmon.
Thnks for the link, JK. I like this: “Higher dietary potassium intake is associated with lower rates of stroke and might also reduce the risk of CHD and total CVD. These results support recommendations for higher consumption of potassium-rich foods to prevent vascular diseases.”
I’ve been taking 10meq of potassium once a day for years now. Guess why I need it? The BP pills lower my Potassium level! Just can’t win.
Know what you mean – I supplement with probiotics.