Dr. Weeks’ Comment: Cholesterol is a highly beneficial natural agent. Wrongly demonized, it is now understood NOT to be deleterious but actually a God-send!
Guess What? High Cholesterol Helps Elderly Live Longer
Published: January 31st, 2013
A new Israeli study suggests that people in their 80s should throw away the low cholesterol diet and go for the French Fries and steak.
Researchers at the Belinson Medical Center in Petach Tikvah, located adjacent to Tel Aviv, tested 500 elderly patients over a period five years and reported that those with higher cholesterol live longer. The average age of the patients was 82.
Dr. Abraham Weiss, deputy director of the Department of Geriatrics, said that cholesterol, long thought to be risk to good health and a contributing cause to heart disease and brain damage, is actually good for people once they reach the Golden Age.
The Maariv newspaper reported the researchers’ conclusions Thursday and pointed out that the patients were not given any drugs to reduce cholesterol during the study.
Every person is different, but Dr. Weiss estimates that the surprising findings indicate that cholesterol has a reverse effect for the elderly and actually helps soften the arteries.
He warned that the study should not be accepted as conclusive but that doctors should think twice before assuming that it is advisable to give the elderly drugs that lower cholesterol.
Those under the age of 80 should continue to keep their cholesterol levels low.
February is American Heart Month in the United States, and the U.S.-based Home Access Health Corporation advised this week, “We all know people who have suffered a heart attack or stroke unexpectedly; that’s why it’s important for people to manage their cholesterol levels as part of an overall approach to good health.”
But once you get to the 80s, you might be able to healthily go back to eating chicken liver, butter, whipped cream and lots of puddings.
FOR PRIOR ARTICLES on the BENEFITS OF HIGH CHOLESTEROL, READ BELOW
The Cholesterol Delusion 2
Statins: The Good, the Bad, and the Unknown
Clinicians Are Talking About Statins
Gordon H. Sun, MD, MS / October 10, 2014
Talking About Statins and Drug-Lifestyle Interaction
In July, Medscape posted “Growing Doubt on Statin Drugs: The Problem of Drug-Lifestyle Interaction,” a perspective by cardiac electrophysiologist Dr John Mandrola about the value of statin medications in primary prevention for cardiovascular disease (CVD). The driver for his article was a recent experience in which he treated a patient’s myalgia and arthralgia by discontinuing her statin. Dr Mandrola had no qualms about stopping the statin, citing a lack of data supporting a significant benefit for these drugs in primary prevention.
The commentary generated more than 600 responses from Medscape readers, a substantial majority of whom agreed with his viewpoint. This is a particularly interesting observation in light of the American College of Cardiology (ACC)/American Heart Association (AHA) “Guideline on the Treatment of Blood Cholesterol to Reduce Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Risk in Adults,” published in November 2013,[1] which eliminated treating to target lipid-level goals based on patient risk for CVD and instead identified four subgroups of patients for whom high-, moderate-, or low-intensity statin therapy would be recommended.[2,3]
The stakes are high. Estimates of the number of US adults who would be newly eligible for statin use under the new guideline.