PARIS: Researchers yesterday challenged a tenet of modern medicine that higher levels of ‘good’ cholesterol automatically boost cardiovascular health.
In a study published in The Lancet, investigators said they found no evidence to back the belief that higher levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol routinely reduce the risk of a heart attack.
High concentrations of HDL are one of the big markers for blood tests.
They are monitored as much as low levels of ‘bad’ cholesterol (low-density lipoprotein, or LDL) as a yardstick of dangerously clogged arteries.
The paper used a method called mendelian randomisation to compare heart-attack risk among people who inherited known genetic variants that gave them higher HDL levels. — AFP