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 11 February 2011

Low cholesterol associated with poor health and increased stroke and heart disease

This post includes a synopsis of a study published in the Annals of Medicine 2011 Jan 24

Study title and authors:
Prognostic significance of serum cholesterol, lathosterol, and sitosterol in old age; a 17-year population study.
Tilvis RS, Valvanne JN, Strandberg TE, Miettinen TA.
Clinic of Internal Medicine and Geriatrics, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.

This paper can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21254906
 
This 17 year study investigated the effects of cholesterol levels on mortality rates in 623 people over 75 years of age.
 
The study found that:
(a) Total cholesterol declined in old age, and low cholesterol was associated with poor health and multi-morbidity.
(b) Cholesterol below 5.0 mmol/L (193 mg/dl) was associated with a 54% accelerated all-cause mortality.
(c) Cholesterol below 5.0 mmol/L (193 mg/dl) was associated with a 113% increase in stroke and heart disease.
(d) Lathosterol (indicating cholesterol synthesis) and sitosterol (indicating cholesterol absorption) also decreased with deteriorating health.

The results of the study indicate that low cholesterol levels are associated with deteriorating health and an earlier death.
 
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