Surprisingly, raising the levels of HDL (good cholesterol) alone may not be protective against lowering risk of heart disease, suggests a recent study.
-In the study conducted in Ontario Canada, researchers studied about 631,000 individuals without previous cardiovascular conditions through the CANHEART cohort, a research database that links together multiple individual-level population-based data sets on sociodemographics, cardiac risk factors and co-morbidities, medications, etc.
-The individuals were aged between 40-105 years were divided into groups based on their HDL levels.
-The researchers examined the relationship between HDL cholesterol levels and other risk factors for heart diseases, existing illnesses, medications that people were taking, and socioeconomic status, among others factors.
-They also compared the HDL levels of healthier people to the HDL levels of people with poorer health habits, such as smoking.
-Researchers found that low and very high levels of HDL were associated with a higher risk of dying from heart disease, cancer and other causes.
-Researchers said they are unsure why very high levels of HDL increased levels of non-cardiovascular related death, but other studies have suggested this could be related to increased alcohol intake.
-In conclusion, researchers said this study casts doubt on HDL being used as an independent risk factor for heart disease or for raising HDL levels to be used by itself as an intervention to reduce the risk of dying from heart disease.
Source: Journal of the American College of Cardiology