Very Low LDL Levels May Not Be The Way To Go...

Researchers at The University of Michigan Health System and the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System have taken a second look at the new guidelines for lowering cholesterol levels in patients who are high risk of suffering from, or already have, heart disease. The current guidelines state that the lower your LDL ("bad" cholesterol) cholesterol levels can go, the better. For instance, if you had a previous heart attack, or had heart disease and diabetes, you would be placed in a "very high risk" category. Such a designation would result in your target LDL cholesterol to be less than 70mg/dL. However, researchers looking at this information feel that the data concerning lowered LDL cholesterol was not adequately analyzed by the investigators conducting the experiments. They noted that lowering LDL levels didn't necessary lower the patient's risk for having heart disease or having a heart attack. However, they did notice that statin drugs, which lowers LDL cholesterol, lowered the risk of patients having heart disease. Although this may not change the current guidelines immediately, it does give researchers an insight to the benefits statins may offer in the fight against heart disease.