Cholesterol News You Need To Know

New research is leading to better cholesterol-lowering treatments

health anxiety New research continues to clarify what it is about cholesterol that presents danger, and how high-density lipoproteins (HDL, or “good” cholesterol) can help your heart. As scientists gain a deeper understanding about cholesterol and all of its properties, prevention strategies become more specific and treatments become more targeted. Here are five new reports that might just change the way we think about cholesterol.

Size matters
Doctors have long observed that people who drink alcohol in moderation have higher levels of HDL than teetotalers, but the reason was never clear. A Harvard study of nearly 2,000 men and women has found that alcohol seems to facilitate the formation of larger particles of both HDL and low-density lipoproteins (LDL, or “bad” cholesterol). Large HDL particles appear better than smaller ones at fighting off heart disease. Although excess LDL causes heart disease, larger LDL particles appear to be less effective than smaller ones at causing it.

Doctors don’t recommend that you start drinking just to lower your cholesterol levels. But, if you already take a sip or two on occasion, increasing your HDL cholesterol might be one more reason to raise a toast. Just keep your intake to no more than one drink per day if you are a woman, or two drinks if you are a man. One drink is defined as approximately 12 ounces of beer, one-and-a-half ounces of hard liquor, or 5 ounces of wine. More alcohol than that may raise your triglyceride levels and consequently your health risks. Drinking too much alcohol also imposes other health risks such as liver disease and increased risk of certain types of cancer.

Better screening
Computerized tomography, known as CT scans, can check the heart for calcium deposits and blockages, making it a potentially useful tool for risk-assessment and predicting heart disease, according to a new study from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. The study found that 7 percent of people scanned needed to lower their LDL cholesterol levels because they were actually at a higher risk of atherosclerosis than previously diagnosed.

Perils of passive smoke
Does your spouse need more incentive to quit smoking? A new study from China finds that non-smoking women whose husbands smoked for at least five years had lower HDL cholesterol, higher LDL cholesterol and other blood changes that put them at higher risk for heart disease than nonsmoking women with nonsmoking partners. This study echoed previous research from Harvard Medical School, which found that children at risk for high cholesterol tend to have lower HDL levels if they grow up in homes where parents smoke. In fact, a review of multiple studies by the University of California estimated that secondhand smoke increases the risk of coronary heart disease by 30 percent — almost as much as active smoking.

NEXT: Do kids need cholesterol tests?

Do kids need cholesterol tests?

The question of screening children for cholesterol levels has been popping up more frequently as levels of childhood obesity rise. Medical organizations, including the American Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Heart Association and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute have recommendations for screening children. Beginning at age 2, children should be screened for cholesterol if they have a family history of high cholesterol or early heart disease. The family history would include a parent with a total cholesterol level over 240 or a parent or grandparent with diagnosed heart disease before age 55 in men, age 65 in women. Children who don’t have a family history of high cholesterol may still need to be screened if they are overweight, have high blood pressure, diabetes, a poor diet or a sedentary lifestyle. Adopting healthier habits is usually enough to reverse cholesterol problems. A 2009 analysis from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that less than 1 percent of adolescents have an LDL high enough to warrant medication.

The big picture

High cholesterol is just one factor that increases your risks of dying from heart disease or stroke. But, when combined with other conditions like diabetes or high blood pressure, that risk rises dramatically. One study from Harvard found that participants had a 22 percent higher risk of death if they met the criteria for “metabolic syndrome” — a cluster of symptoms that greatly raise heart disease risks, even when LDL cholesterol levels are within normal range. Ask your physician if you could be at risk for metabolic syndrome, which consists primarily of the following five symptoms (you need only three of five symptoms to qualify):=

Abdominal obesity — a waist circumference of 40 inches or greater (102 centimeters) in men, 35 inches (89 centimeters) or greater in women
Triglyceride levels of 150 milligrams/deciliter or greater
HDL cholesterol less than 40 mg/dL for men and less than 50 mg/dL for women
Blood pressure higher than 130/85 mmHg
High blood sugar (a fasting glucose level of 100mg/dL or more)