Study: Diet and exercise, not low cholesterol, keep heart happy

Yet another view of the study, this in the Boston Herald: (excerpt below,
read the full text at

http://theedge.bostonherald.com/healthNews/view.bg?articleid=121364 )

Study: Diet and exercise, not low cholesterol, keep heart happy
By Dr. John Abramson/ Mr. M.D.
Sunday, January 15, 2006

Finally some good medical news for the elderly: A study in last month's
Journal of the American Geriatrics Society shows that once you hit 65, you
can stop worrying about your cholesterol level.

In fact, the results of the study - which measured cholesterol levels
and longevity in two northern Italian towns over the past 11 years - should
send shivers up the spines of drug companies that make Lipitor and other
cholesterol-lowering statins.

The Italian study showed the higher the total or the bad cholesterol
level, the longer people lived. (You read that right.) The study did have
one caveat: Men whose LDL cholesterol levels were above 160 mg/dL would have
benefited from a slightly but not dramatically lower level.

Of course, that research jibes with the results of our own Framingham
Heart Study, the granddaddy of them all. It shows that after people reach
middle age, their cholesterol level no longer has a significant impact on
how long they will live. And once people reach 80, it's the same in
Framingham as it is in northern Italy: The higher the cholesterol, the
longer people live.

So, seniors, when you see the TV ads with the animated cholesterol
particles clogging up arteries, just click to another station. Or better
yet, go get a piece of fruit, or take a walk.

To be fair, the drug companies have done their own studies - and they've
come to similar conclusions.
<snip>


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