[Kelly_S]

Here is some information I found on cholesterol:

1. Cholesterol is not a deadly poison, but a substance vital to the cells of all mammals. There are no such things as good or bad cholesterol, but mental stress, physical activity and change of body weight may influence the level of blood cholesterol. A high cholesterol is not dangerous by itself, but may reflect an unhealthy condition, or it may be totally innocent.

2. A high blood cholesterol is said to promote atherosclerosis (the scientific name for arteriosclerosis) and thus also coronary heart disease. But many studies have shown that people whose blood cholesterol is low become just as arteriosclerotic as people whose cholesterol is high. A reduction of animal fat and an increase of vegetable fat in the diet is said to lower the blood cholesterol. This is correct, but the effect of such dietary changes is very small.

3. Your body produces three to four times more cholesterol than you eat. The production of cholesterol increases when you eat little cholesterol and decreases when you eat much. This explains why the ”prudent” diet cannot lower cholesterol more than on average a few per cent.

Kel

Ps - Here a site with references on cholesterol:
home.swipnet.se/~w-25775/weblit.htm

Pss - Many items stated about cholesterol just aren't true and many of facts have been presented in scientific journals and books for decades but are rarely told to the public. Sometimes diet doesn't have one little thing to do about high or low cholesterol.

[Kelly_S]

Low cholesterol doesn’t mean heart ills won’t strike, study finds

By Allan Sison
Medical PressCorps News Service

Having low cholesterol levels doesn’t mean you aren’t at risk for heart disease. According to a new study, cholesterol levels may not be reflective of a person’s overall heart health.

New research found that cholesterol levels were below the “warning level” in 750 men and women who had coronary bypass surgery. A total cholesterol reading of below 200 milligrams per deciliter of blood, which is considered healthy, was found in these patients even though they had blockages in their coronary arteries that necessitated surgery.

Additionally, the researchers led by Fred Kummerow, professor emeritus of food chemistry at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, also found high levels of oxysterols, products of the breakdown of cholesterol by the liver, in these patients. This led researchers to conclude that blood cholesterol levels should not be used to measure heart-disease risk.

“If you have a chest pain, you’d better have it checked out thoroughly, and don’t be satisfied with even a treadmill run or an EKG (electrocardiogram),” Kummerow said. “Have a cardiologist check you out. You cannot depend on your cholesterol level to indicate heart disease.”

The work of Kummerow and colleagues appears in two studies published in the March issue of Atherosclerosis. In the first study, the researchers examined 1,200 patients who had undergone cardiac catheterization. In this procedure, a catheter is inserted into a vein and into the heart to determine if the patient has any abnormalities in the heart or adjacent blood vessels.

Of these 1,200 patients, 63 percent had at least 70 percent of their arteries blocked, which is enough blockage to justify bypass surgery. In fact, 750 patients — 506 men and 244 women — actually underwent bypass surgery.

However, only 12 percent of the men and 32 percent of the women who had bypasses performed had cholesterol levels above 240; 50 percent of the men and 34 percent of the women actually had cholesterol levels less than 200.

In the second study, Kummerow and colleagues studied the 105 catheterized patients who had reported angina, or chest pains. Upon examining the patients’ blood, researchers found that all of the patients had high levels of four specific oxysterols.

The researchers then examined the effects of the oxysterols on a tissue culture containing cells from blood vessels. They found that the oxysterols caused a significant influx of calcium infiltration into the cultured tissues. Infiltration of calcium into the blood vessel walls is an important characteristic of heart disease.

“This study has identified why members of families in apparent good health may suddenly develop angina,” Kummerow remarked. “Failure to recognize angina as a warning signal contributes to needless deaths from heart disease.”

Kummerow was surprised that such a high number of bypass patients had supposedly healthy cholesterol levels. He noted that 10 patients even had cholesterol levels below 100, yet had arterial blockages of 70 percent of more.