Word: hdl
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Americans are acutely aware of cholesterol. During the presidential campaign, George Bush's doctor issued a medical history that included the candidate's total cholesterol and HDL levels (both well within the safe zone). Two books, Robert E. Kowalski's The 8-Week Cholesterol Cure and Dr. Kenneth H. Cooper's Controlling Cholesterol, have been major sellers this year. The shelves of the nation's grocery stores are lined with products conspicuously labeled "cholesterol free." Oat bran, which moderately lowers cholesterol levels, is selling so briskly that some manufacturers are working around the clock to meet demand. Essentially, all these...
Clinical studies suggest that cholesterol's role in this lethal process is much more complicated than previously imagined. Some scientists now believe that in certain cases of atherosclerosis, too little HDL may be as important a factor as too much LDL. On the other hand, the higher the level of HDL, the more it may aid in counteracting the effects of the bad cholesterol. This is the view of Dr. William Castelli, medical director of the Framingham Heart Study, a major research project that for the past 40 years has been following the cardiac history of residents of Framingham, Mass...
That judgment was reinforced by four new studies presented at the American Heart Association's annual meeting in Washington last month. They confirmed earlier research indicating that low levels of HDL can result in heart disease -- even in individuals whose total cholesterol count is in the supposedly "safe" zone below 200 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dl) of blood...
...counter this confusion, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute has for the past three years been running a National Cholesterol Education Program. Last year the program set 200 mg/dl as the amount of total cholesterol (essentially LDL plus HDL) above which individuals are considered to be potentially at risk of developing heart disease; those between 200 and 239 are borderline high risk; anyone with a count of 240 or more may be at high risk. The program suggested that everybody should aim for an LDL count of 130 or lower. However, it did not recommend specific HDL targets...
Portable analyzers, though, cannot calculate LDL and HDL levels. Even many laboratories have been unable to give consistently accurate counts of HDL. Yet that figure may be the most vital statistic of all in evaluating cardiovascular health in otherwise moderate- or low-risk individuals. Says Dr. Bruce Gordon, associate professor of medicine at Manhattan's Rogosin Institute: "There are a sizable number of people who would be inappropriately treated unless their HDL levels were taken into account...