Re: What's the story behind cholesterol?

From: Bill (xxx_at_yy.zz)
Date: 03/13/05 

Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2005 05:15:45 GMT

"kenny" <bri1600bv@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1110689553.267593.278760@l41g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
> Is high cholesterol associated with increased mortality/heart disease?
> If so is it causation or correlation?
>
> Are there any sites that talk about it? One thing I remember reading
> is that cholesterol is (in addition to making hormones and cell walls
> and other things) kind of like the fireman at the fire. It repairs
> damage done by homocysteine (whatever that is) to artery walls, so
> lowering it (in their view) was pure folly.
>
> I know that there are drugs for high cholesterol, that your body
> actually makes most of its own, etc. Some people say these drugs are
> nonsense/not needed and even harmful (asside from liver complications).
> Others say that they are life savers.
>
> My cholesterol is about 220 or so. I didn't think that this was so
> high. Certainly not high enough to warrant a possibly harmful drug.
> The 'ratios' were good however, by the way.
>
> How did they decide that 200 was the cutoff point for cholesterol
> anyway?
>
> Any quick references or comments?
>

A lot depends on other things. Your age, have you had heart problems,
diabetes, family history, etc. LDL is more important and you should try diet
and exercise before looking to drugs.

Bill

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