If your cholesterol tests show elevated blood cholesterol levels are you more likely to develop Alzheimer's than those with low cholesterol? According to a recent study if you are a man or woman in your early 40's then this could be the case.
Cholesterol values were obtained for 9,752 men and women who were in their 40's from 1964 through 1973. The study found that 504 had developed Alzheimer's by 2007. The researchers found that people whose cholesterol tests revealed cholesterol values of 249 to 500 milligrams per deciliter were 1.5 times more likely to develop Alzheimer's than those with cholesterol less than 198. Those will cholesterol of 221 to 248 were 1.25 times more likely to develop the disease.
Do you need to take another look at your cholesterol test? A recent study, called JUPITER, showed that giving a cholesterol-lowering statin to older people with normal LDL (less than 130 mg/dl) cut their risk of heart attack and stroke in half. The trial was aimed at determining the importance of lowering C-reactive protein, or CRP, in men and women.
Does this mean that what has typically been accepted as "normal" LDL results from cholesterol tests is wrong? Current guidelines recommend that doctors prescribe a statin for anyone whose LDL is 100 mg/dl or higher. It will be interesting to see if this leads to a re-evaluation of how cholesterol tests are evaluated.
Does this mean that what has typically been accepted as "normal" LDL results from cholesterol tests is wrong? Current guidelines recommend that doctors prescribe a statin for anyone whose LDL is 100 mg/dl or higher. It will be interesting to see if this leads to a re-evaluation of how cholesterol tests are evaluated.
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