How levels of 'good' cholesterol may increase dementia risk

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: NBC News

Oct. 4, 2023, 4:03 PM EDT


So-called “good” HDL cholesterol may not be as healthy as experts once thought, a new study suggests. The new study, published Wednesday in Neurology, found that having either high or low levels of high-density lipoprotein, or HDL, cholesterol, may increase the risk of dementia in older adults. It’s more evidence showing that keeping HDL cholesterol within a certain range is important for cardiovascular and brain health.

“The relationship between HDL cholesterol and dementia is more complex than we previously thought," said the study’s lead author, Erin Ferguson, a doctoral student studying epidemiology at the University of California San Francisco. "While the magnitude of this relationship is relatively small, it’s important,” The results show a correlation between HDL cholesterol and dementia, but do not prove that low or high levels of the lipid directly caused dementia.

The study, which was supported by the National Institute on Aging and the National Institutes of Health, included more than 184,000 adults with an average age of 70. None had dementia when the study began. Researchers used a combination of surveys and electronic records from the Kaiser Permanente Northern California health plan to track cholesterol levels, health behaviors and whether someone developed dementia over about 13 years. During that time, just more than 25,000 people developed dementia.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends people keep their total cholesterol at about 150 mg/dL, or milligrams per deciliter of blood, with LDL at or below 100 mg/dL. Low-density lipoprotein, or LDL, cholesterol, has long been recognized for its often deadly impact on the cardiovascular system.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/heart-health/good-hdl-cholesterol-dementia-risk-rcna118772

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Link to study publication - https://n.neurology.org/content/early/2023/10/04/WNL.0000000000207876

[Elessar Zappa]

1. I have low cholesterol, both ldl and hdl.

My total cholesterol is only 93 and I was told to increase healthy fats and exercise in order to increase the hdl.

[Eyeball_Kid]

11. I've a cardiac doctor.

He told me that low cholesterol levels don't guarantee that a person will not get coronary artery disease. There is not a direct causal relationship between any cholesterol level and CAD, if avoiding it is your objective. It's complicated. I've had a healthy, low fat diet (no tobacco, no alcohol) for all of my adult life (over a half century) and am recovering from a triple bypass due to CAD.

[Elessar Zappa]

12. I've had my arteries checked and they're pretty much completely clear.

Of course I’m only 39 years old. But I do need to increase my hdl.

[Attilatheblond]

18. Hope your luck & good genes hold for you

My older, slender, healthy eating, wood chopping, low stress rural living brother had his first heart attack at 49. Went on for years of balloon artery clearing treatments, stints, and all other manner of attempts to clear arteries until he finally had to undergo a quad bypass at 64. He turns 81 in a month and is doing pretty well for 'an old guy'.

[Happy Hoosier]

13. The lipid hypothesis is probably wrong.

The whole idea that fats cause heart disease is a flawed conclusion thought up by Ansel Keys. The actual cause is probably the oxodation of LDL cholesterol, which allows it to penetrate arterial walls and cause plaques.

Some folks think that's caused by certain inflammatory responses, such as diabetes (among others).

In case, it's not LDL cholesterol that's the danger... it's the so-call "small partical" LDL. Not to get too far in to it, but if you are inclined to have a high proportion of small partical LDL, you're probably at greater risk for CVD. So even if you have low LDL cholesteral levels, if a lot of them are these small particles, you're at greater risk. Conversely, if you have HIGH LDL levels, but relatively few of those small particles, you're at a lower risk.

It appears that a better predictor of CVD is the ratio of Triglycerides to your HDL levels. You want that to be below 3. Ideally, below 2.

You CAN achieve that with a low-fat diet, but you don;t have to. You can also achieve it by limiting carbs, especially refined carbs.

[Attilatheblond]

19. Sadly, it seems most doctors just ignore, or blow off, complaints of various inflammatory problems

They seem to prefer just relying on some numbers from a lab test and writing a 'script for whatever drug the last Pharma rep told them about. Too much work to hunt down the cause of an individual's inflammation issues, I reckon.

[Happy Hoosier]

20. Absolutely true and so frustrating.

At least for now, my doc is inclined to support my prefrernces. I do get the occasional heart scan just to make sure my body is responding well to my habits.

[Attilatheblond]

22. Same. Told doctor I won't take statins that were no help to my siblings & have weird side effects

And since he won't address my worsening, crippling PsA, I am changing care givers. I eat plenty of veggies, some whole grains and, fish and very little meat at all. But the lab numbers are displeasing to the pill pusher who won't address the fact that my joints and tendons are being destroyed and I can barely walk too many days of the week.

Have had a 'heart murmur' all my life, never could run much, even as a kid, but could walk for hours. Female, so nobody has taken the time to look into the murmur, which I guess is a bit of a malfunction of the membrane between heart chambers. Turning 70 soon and just wish I still had joints and tendons that worked. Would prefer to die of a heart attack while hiking than linger on with ever limiting mobility.

[bucolic_frolic]

2. Natural food, natural nutrients

Ancestral diet. We were so busy eradicating heart disease with trans fats, 0% milk, non-fat dairy. But natural complex fats have been with us for thousands of years. No fat to avoid prostate cancer!! But European populations who have organic goat's milk ricotta or cottage cheese do just fine. Some books swore off safflower oil - mono-saturates - too reactive they said. Who knows. Too much canola! We didn't eat this much oil in 1850. New wheat strains, 1975. Now celiac and IBS is rampant. Sugar, diabetes 2. We have radically changed diet in short periods of time. We ain't ready for it.

[SouthernDem4ever]

3. Personally, I think it's all the toxic chemicals we are exposed to.

In food and our environment. I consider inorganic to be toxic.

[Happy Hoosier]

14. Based on?

I'm oen to this, but I'd like to see some actual evidence backing that up.

[SouthernDem4ever]

15. I don't know if you're looking for empirical evidence

Last edited Fri Oct 6, 2023, 12:07 PM - Edit history (1)

but you can see a few of the common chemicals discussed here:

https://www.ewg.org/consumer-guides/ewgs-dirty-dozen-guide-food-chemicals-top-12-avoid

[Bayard]

4. Once again,

Eating is bad for you.

[Rebl2]

5. Anybody

I knew that took cholesterol lowering drugs-a small number of people-developed dementia. Don’t know if they have studied the relationship between these drugs and development of dementia.

[TexasBushwhacker]

8. Lord knows they push them enough

despite the fact they increase your chances of Type 2 diabetes.

[Stargazer99]

9. I concur this statin I am taking makes me forget constantly-probably because it too expensive to

profits to make a more decent product-capitalism in force. I hate the damn stuff but I am poor and can't get something better

[Mosby]

17. Statins are dirt cheap.

Maybe your Dr. Prescribed the brand name drug.

My statin is free, my ins considers it a preventative med.

[Hekate]

6. Doooooomed. I'm doooooomed.

Jesus Christ on a Trailer Hitch. I check a lot of boxes — my sleep is terrible, and uhhhh I can’t remember all the rest. Now my long-standing statin is going to do me in.

[Stargazer99]

10. Oh boy do I understand how you feel!

[Evolve Dammit]

7. HDL always off the chart high. Docs told me I was golden even though total was high. This kinda sux

[mainer]

16. All this time high HDL was called good

Thought to be protective against coronary artery disease.Exercise to get your HDL up, we were told!

Now it’s: you won’t get a heart attack but you’ll get dementia! Great.

[Attilatheblond]

21. And living long with dementia is no gift to anyone

My sister and her husband, and our younger brother caregivers were recently relieved of the hell of her dementia. She was almost 80 and the past 15 years have been hell on earth for her and the family. No way to live.

[womanofthehills]

23. Korean cholesterol study of over 12 million adults

Those with cholesterol 210 to 240 lived longer than those with under 200..

TC levels associated with lowest mortality were 210-249 mg/dL, except for men aged 18-34 years (180-219 mg/dL) and women aged 18-34 years (160-199 mg/dL) and 35-44 years (180-219 mg/dL). The inverse associations for TC < 200 mg/dL were stronger than the positive associations in the upper range.


https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30733566/