New research suggests reduced role for good cholesterol

[Guest guest]

http://www.ajc.com/health/content/health/0304/15cholesterol.html

For years, doctors have been saying that to prevent heart disease, patients

should pay attention to both the so-called bad cholesterol, or LDL, and the

good cholesterol, or HDL. The good, they said, can counteract the bad.

But now, some scientists say, new research has called into question whether

high levels of the good cholesterol are always good and, when they are

beneficial, how much.

 

While some heart experts are not ready to change their treatment advice,

others have concluded that HDL should play at most a minor role in deciding

whether to prescribe cholesterol-lowering drugs. In the meantime, doctors

are calling researchers and asking what to do about patients with high HDL

levels, or what to do when their own HDL levels are high, and patients are

left with conflicting advice....

Cholesterol researchers say that every clinic has patients with high levels

of HDL who end up with heart disease. The average HDL level for men is 40 to

50 and for women 50 to 60. But, even when HDL levels are much higher, " the

LDL can overpower the HDL, " said Dr. Christie Ballantyne of Baylor College

of Medicine. ...