The raison d'etre of this website is to provide you with hard scientific information which may help you make informed decisions in your quest for health (so far I have blogged concise summaries of over 1,500 scientific studies and have had three books published).

My research is mainly focused on the effects of cholesterol, saturated fat and statin drugs on health. If you know anyone who is worried about their cholesterol levels and heart disease, or has been told to take statin drugs you could send them a link to this website, and to my statin or cholesterol or heart disease books.

David Evans

Independent Health Researcher

Friday 9 April 2010

High Triglyceride levels are assocciated with heart disease.

This study was published in Circulation 1997;96:2520-2525

Study title and authors:
Fasting Triglycerides, High-Density Lipoprotein, and Risk of Myocardial Infarction
J. Michael Gaziano, MD, MPH; Charles H. Hennekens, MD, DrPH; Christopher J. O'Donnell, MD, MPH; Jan L. Breslow, MD; ; Julie E. Buring, ScD
Division of Preventive Medicine (J.M.G., C.H.H., J.E.B.) and the Cardiovascular Division (J.M.G.), Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass

The paper can be accessed at:
http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/96/8/2520

The study examined the interrelationships of triglyceride and high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL) with the risk of heart attack among 340 subjects (aged under 76) who had suffered a heart attack and an equal number of age-, sex-, and community-matched control subjects.

The study found:
(a) Those with the highest triglycerides had almost 7 times the risk of a heart attack compared to those with the lowest triglycerides.
(b) Those with the highest HDL cholesterol levels were somewhat protected from a heart attack compared to those with the lowest HDL cholesterol levels.

The paper shows that a high triglyceride level is associated with heart disease. High triglyceride levels may be caused by carbohydrate consumption. See here

Another finding is that high HDL cholesterol levels appear to give protection from heart disease. A high fat diet raises HDL cholesterol levels. See here and here