A Rare Gene Mutation May Protect Against High Cholesterol After a High Fat Meal

When you're trying to lower your cholesterol, foods like french fries, cream cakes, and greasy hamburgers are knocked out of your diet - or are severely limited. But what happens if you have a genetic mutation that would allow you to eat these foods and not have a huge impact on your cholesterol? Actually, some people have this mutation. A new study has shown that when the gene, called APOC3, is mutated, consuming high fat foods have little affect on cholesterol levels.

This study was published in Science today and has all of the details on this newly discovered mutation.

The 809 Amish participants were given a high fat milkshake, and their cholesterol levels, triglyceride levels, and calcium deposits on coronary arteries were looked at. It was found that participants with this mutation had lower LDL and triglyceride levels, higher HDL levels, and less artery calcifications post-milkshake.

This mutation lowers a apolipoprotein called apoCIII, which is a protein found on triglycerides. But if you're like me and don't have this mutation, you can lower apoCIII in other ways, such as losing weight and consuming fish.

While only the Amish were looked at in this study, there haven't been other studies pursuing this. The bad news is that this mutation appears to be relatively rare.

So, since most of us probably do not have this mutation, here are some ways you can lower your cholesterol and apoCIII levels:

• Fish oil supplements
• Exercise
• Eating healthy
• Cholesterol-lowering medications