Word: hdl
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...cholesterol issue has been complicated in the past decade by new discoveries about the fatty proteins that carry cholesterol in the blood: high-density lipoprotein (HDL), low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL). HDL-cholesterol appears to be "good" cholesterol. Explains Dr. Antonio Gotto of the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston: "We think that high-density lipoprotein may work as a scavenger of cholesterol from the tissues, ridding the body of excess cholesterol." Research is under way to determine whether coronary disease can be fought more effectively by manipulating the levels of HDL...
There is evidence to support such optimism. Studies have shown that running-indeed, all strenuous exercise-can elevate the blood levels of a form of cholesterol called high-density lipoprotein (HDL). This substance helps remove other, more harmful types of cholesterol from the body and presumably reduces the chances of such materials building up in the arteries. Studying 218 marathoners, joggers and nonrunners, G. Harley Hartung of the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston found that the marathoners had the highest level of HDL. Other factors may be at work; marathoners tend to be relaxed, eat healthful foods, not smoke...
There is still another factor to keep runners off stride. Cornell's Dr. Thomas Pickering, who has also studied HDL levels, reports that arrhythmias-abnormal heartbeat rhythms-occur more frequently during exercise and thus may be the cause of many unexplained deaths among runners. Says he: "A case could be made that the marathon runner is at a decreased risk of cardiovascular death when he is not running, but at an increased risk when he is." So what is a runner to do? Not to worry, says Roberts, who runs five to ten miles...