Word: cholesterols
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Unfortunately, heart disease is a hideously complex phenomenon. Diet is just one of a panoply of risk factors, which also include heredity, smoking, high blood pressure and obesity. Even the idea that cholesterol is "bad" is seriously flawed, since the chemical is produced naturally in the body and is vital to the functioning of human cells. It is carried in the bloodstream by two types of molecules: low-density lipoproteins (LDL) and high-density lipoproteins (HDL). Too much LDL is harmful because it contributes to the accumulation of fatty deposits that block arteries, but large amounts of HDL are thought...
Moore's contention that diet has little impact on cholesterol levels is an oversimplification. Some patients respond dramatically to diet therapy, others hardly at all. The author cites studies showing that people who change their eating habits generally lower their cholesterol levels by 5% to 10%. But Dr. James Cleeman, coordinator of the NCEP, maintains that the typical reduction range is more like...
...Even more controversial is Moore's suspicion that lowering cholesterol does not increase one's odds for a longer life. In the major studies that have probed this issue, people with low cholesterol got heart disease less often than those with high levels. But, as Moore points out, the low-cholesterol people did not live longer on average, because some of them died from other ailments. Whether this was by chance or the result of low cholesterol remains an open question. That puzzling outcome does not overly impress most researchers. They feel that as additional, longer studies are completed...
Moore is on firmer ground in sounding an alarm about drug therapy. While the NCEP says cholesterol-lowering drugs should be used only after diet modification fails, many doctors are too quick to reach for the prescription pad. Reason: patients find it easier to take pills than to give up steak and eggs. Yet taking drugs for a lifetime can have unintended and perhaps dangerous side effects. The well-established anticholesterol drugs, including cholestyramine and nicotinic acid, seem to be relatively safe, but they can produce such discomforts as nausea and intestinal pain. Newer drugs, like the heavily promoted lovastatin...
...decades and still be struck down. Someone else may eat eggs every day and live to be 100. But in the game of life, smart players look at the odds. And most health professionals remain convinced that a sensible diet, with only moderate amounts of saturated fats and cholesterol, raises the odds of avoiding a heart attack...