Word: hdl
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Results: after five years, subjects on lovastatin had lowered their bad cholesterol and other dangerous blood-borne fats and had boosted their HDL, or "good" cholesterol. And they had a 37% lower incidence of serious heart disease than those who were given placebos, or pills without lovastatin. Though I'm technically too young to qualify, I'm pretty close, and I'm sure the drugs would lower my cholesterol too. I'd be crazy not to start on lovastatin at once. Right...
...good cholesterol" you hope will turn up in your blood test has that name for a reason. More properly known as high-density lipoprotein (HDL), it can prevent the damage done by its evil twin, low-density lipoprotein (LDL). The latter clogs blood vessels by combining with oxygen to form a substance that sets off alarms in the immune system. White blood cells rush to attack it, and the whole mess forms into sticky globs called plaques that cling to vessel walls like mineral deposits in a water pipe. When these deposits break off and blood clots around them...
...HDL is good because it keeps LDL from combining with oxygen in the first place. But doctors at UCLA studying HDL in mice have found that when the immune system is under stress--after surgery, for example, or during a major infection--HDL stops producing an enzyme called paraoxynase and thus loses its antioxidant properties. When good cholesterol goes bad, moreover, it goes really bad. Not only does it stop protecting the body against LDL, but it also seems to goad the immune system into forming plaques even more quickly...
...ALCOHOL. One or two drinks a day seem to cut by one-third the risk of developing clogged arteries in the legs--a pain-ful, sometimes dangerous condition that tends to afflict the elderly. Alcohol probably helps legs the same way it helps the heart--by raising good hdl cholesterol...
...developed premature heart disease--a result comparable to that for men with total cholesterol counts in the danger zone of 240 mg/dL. Blood tests revealed one important reason: as long as the subjects had high levels of Lp(a), it didn't matter if they had normal levels of HDL, the so-called good cholesterol, and LDL, the so-called bad cholesterol...