“Good” Cholesterol Does Not Matter for Heart Health

HDL (high-density lipoprotein) has been called “good cholesterol” Medical experts are currently reviewing the issue after a new study challenged the benefits of this treatment. cholesterol type across racial lines.

Researchers at the Oregon Health & Science University’s Knight Cardiovascular Institute analyzed 23,901 medical profiles The Reasons for Geographical and Racial Differences in Stroke Study was done to compare the risk factors for cardiovascular events in middle-aged Black patients and White patients.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH), a medical-research agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, funded the study. It was published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology Monday, Nov. 21.

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Of the thousands of REGARDS participants analyzed, researchers narrowed down their findings to patients who had enrolled in the study from 2003 and 2007, and then they followed the patients’ health records over a 10- to 11-year period.

Participants in the Black and White Study had similar experiences, according to reports cholesterol levels and other risk factors for heart disease such as high blood pressure, smoking, and diabetes. 

Many fruits and vegetables have lower cholesterol levels. (iStock)

Researchers found that 951 White patients and 664 Black patients had suffered a heart attack, or were at risk of death due to it over a decade.

“It’s been well accepted that low HDL cholesterol levels are detrimental, regardless of race. Our research tested those assumptions,” Nathalie Pamir, the study’s senior author, wrote in a statement, according to the NIH.

“The goal was to understand this long-established link that labels HDL as the beneficial cholesterol, and if that’s true for all ethnicities,” Pamir, who’s an associate professor of medicine at Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, added. 

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High-density lipoprotein was reportedly viewed favorably due to its high density.