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Questions

Cholesterol combats infection, why would you want to lower it?

Asked by Concerned

6 Feb 2012

High cholesterol may be an indication that you've got a high level of inflammation for instance, that needs coping with.

Low cholesterol levels are linked to cancer.

Answer this question See 19 answers

19 answers

Mike262

6 Feb 2012

This seems to be a Statement rather than a question and is more likely to confuse and startle people!

DakCB-UK

7 Feb 2012

Yeah, it's out of context, unsubstantiated, confused (for example, the main question suggests cholesterol is preventative, the text beneath suggests it's restorative) and the answer is bleeding obvious: you'd want to lower cholesterol levels if they are not in response to an infection (or is it an inflammation? They're not the same thing: more confusion!) and the lipid hypothesis is correct... and as you can see from posting history, comrade Concerned appears to be a committed hypothesis denier, so that's what this is really about.

Withattitude

24 Mar 2012

I think being judgemental and critical is a really unhelpful response in any forum.

DakCB-UK

26 Mar 2012

So what would you have us do? Say nothing and not worry about fellow patients who may believe unsupported claims in this forum?

Withattitude

26 Mar 2012

Not at all. It is possible to say what you think without being critical and judgemental. There are many different beliefs out there regarding the medical impact of cholesterol and they don't all support the opinion that all cholesterol is bad. I also think that challenge makes us all take stock and re-evaluate our own position. As for the impact on fellow patients I think that is for fellow patients to decide not me or you.

DakCB-UK

26 Mar 2012

There are many different beliefs out there regarding lots of things and many of those are crazy too.

Bottom line is that it doesn't matter what I think because the site guidelines say "you are asked to provide references and links wherever relevant and possible" and this question did not. I'm disappointed that the moderators leave such rumours on this site unchallenged.

Aliwally

6 Feb 2012

Actually it's quite interesting because I was reading about rheumatoid arthritis and lipid levels. Last summer I was getting a lot of pain and stiffness in my fingers which I put down to the atorvastatin.
They have been about 70% better since I stopped taking it, but my research tells me that lipid levels can be disrupted maybe up to 10 years before symptoms of RA appear and RA is classically inflammatory.
Of course this could also be hypochondria instead of mild RA , I'm good at diagnosing myself and I'm not always right.

offshoretinker

7 Feb 2012

Apparently low rates of cholesterol in old people is associated with higher death rates. This is pretty well supported.
eg:
weeksmd.com/2009/11/low-cho...

zphelps

7 Feb 2012

two words ...heart disease = death

Concerned

7 Feb 2012

Heart disease being due to stress (inflammation), smoking, and elevated blood sugar/insulin.

Cholesterol attempts to repair the damage?

zphelps

8 Feb 2012

clogs the artries, requires stints, by pass surgery results in cost to NHS tax payers, and eventually your family for the cost of funeral....

stress? if that was true i'd be dead now!!

Concerned

8 Feb 2012

Aah, yes...arterycloggingsaturatedfat. Kind of rolls off the tongue doesn't it. And the evidence for a causative link between saturated fat and heart disease is???

Meanwhile, the dietary factor that people should be concerned about that goes relatively unnoticed is elevated blood glucose/insulin levels, not just from sugar of course, but all digestible carbohydrates.

The stress aspect is with regard to how it affects your adrenal response and hormones such as cortisol. If your as stressed as you think, it may well be having a detrimental effect on your heart.

Concerned

8 Feb 2012

A stressor is anything that potentially disrupts your internal mileu

zphelps

8 Feb 2012

o.k.. adrenal glands deal with stress, if not it is a separate issue no?

how does the cholesterol leak into peoples eyelids and other areas and is visably evident?

My heart is all clear as checked regular by lipid clinc,,,

Aliwally

7 Feb 2012

Yes, very important to add that FH is not due to inflammation but known lack of LDL receptors. Was also reading that research from Norway indicates that in women the highest rates of mortality are at both the lowest and highest TC levels. Will try and find link as I can't remember all the details.

Aliwally

8 Feb 2012

The research from Norway is the HUNT study which shows for women the greatest mortality is with TC levels either under 5 or over 7 so most people with inherited disorders would fall in the over 7.
I personally hate this mania to get the cholesterol levels of the general population down still lower and lower, but people with FH fall into a totally different category.

Concerned

8 Feb 2012

Thanks for that Aliwally. Help me out please. It appears to be an observational study? They appear to have identified some interesting findings, however what clinical studies have been done to isolate cholesterol as a variable responsible for lowering the mortality of people?

Aliwally

9 Feb 2012

Yes this study is a longitudinal population based study using questionnaires, interviews as well as blood and urine samples.
Norwegians apparently are one of the longest lived people but their score highly on traditional risk factors leading the researchers to suggest that the healthiest TC for Norwegian women is between 5-7, higher than currently recommended. Maybe it's the milk from an Omega 3 cow (Dr Kendrick joke).

No, off the top of my head I don't know of any studies isolating cholesterol. I tend to concentrate on studies involving post menopausal women with high cholesterol as the only risk factor and there are not a lot of them. CASHMERE is the only one and that had a lousy end point, only lasted a year and failed to get published in any mainstream journal.

I am not a statistician or a lipidologist, only a poor patient but I do try and do my research to try and decide what is best for me.

Concerned

9 Feb 2012

Responsible approach

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