The whole bad and good cholesterol
story jumped out in full flight some years ago with perhaps a smidgeon of
science to support it and it has not really gotten a lot better. Although we all try to work against the
proposed guidelines, I have always had a sneaking suspicion that the argument
was weak at best.
Here is work that is chewing on
the edges of the big story and perhaps someday we will really understand what
we are doing.
It is interesting that
cholesterol plays a role in supporting new muscle growth in aging
patients. This is an area were we are only
now starting to get a handle on the biological changes.
"Bad Cholesterol" Not As Bad As People Think
Released: 5/5/2011 8:00 AM EDT
Newswise — COLLEGE STATION, May 4, 2011 – The so-called “bad cholesterol”
– low-density lipoprotein commonly called LDL – may not be so bad after all,
shows a Texas A&M University study that casts new light on the cholesterol
debate, particularly among adults who exercise.
Steve Riechman, a researcher in the Department of Health and
Kinesiology, says the study reveals that LDL is not the evil Darth Vader of
health it has been made out to be in recent years and that new attitudes need
to be adopted in regards to the substance. His work, with help from colleagues
from the University of Pittsburgh , Kent
State University ,
the Johns Hopkins
Weight Management
Center and the Northern Ontario
School of Medicine, is
published in the Journal of Gerontology.
Riechman and colleagues examined 52 adults from ages to 60 to 69 who
were in generally good health but not physically active, and none of them were
participating in a training program. The study showed that after fairly
vigorous workouts, participants who had gained the most muscle mass also had
the highest levels of LDL (bad) cholesterol, “a very unexpected result and one
that surprised us.
“It shows that you do need a certain amount of LDL to gain more muscle
mass. There’s no doubt you need both – the LDL and the HDL -- and the truth is,
it (cholesterol) is all good. You simply can’t remove all the ‘bad’ cholesterol
from your body without serious problems occurring.
Cholesterol is found in all humans and is a type of fat around the
body. A person’s total cholesterol level is comprised of LDL (low-density
lipoprotein) and HDL (high-density lipoprotein) cholesterol.
LDL is almost always referred to as the “bad” cholesterol because it
tends to build up in the walls of arteries, causing a slowing of the blood flow
which often leads to heart disease and heart attacks.
HDL, usually called the “good cholesterol,” often helps remove
cholesterol from arteries.
“But here is where people tend to get things wrong,” Riechman says.
“LDL serves a very useful purpose. It acts as a warning sign that
something is wrong and it signals the body to these warning signs. It does its
job the way it is supposed to.
“People often say, ‘I want to get rid of all my bad (LDL) cholesterol,’
but the fact is, if you did so, you would die,” the Texas A&M professor adds. “Everyone
needs a certain amount of both LDL and HDL in their bodies. We need to change
this idea of LDL always being the evil thing – we all need it, and we need it
to do its job.”
According to the American Heart Association, about 36 million American
adults have high cholesterol levels.
“Our tissues need cholesterol, and LDL delivers it,” he notes. “HDL,
the good cholesterol, cleans up after the repair is done. And the more LDL you
have in your blood, the better you are able to build muscle during resistance
training.”
Riechman says the study could be helpful in looking at a condition
called sarcopenia, which is muscle loss due to aging. Previous studies show
muscle is usually lost at a rate of 5 percent per decade after the age of 40, a
huge concern since muscle mass is the major determinant of physical strength.
After the age of 60, the prevalence of moderate to severe sarcopenia is found
in about 65 percent of all men and about 30 percent of all women, and it
accounts for more than $18 billion of health care costs in the United States .
“The bottom line is that LDL – the bad cholesterol – serves as a
reminder that something is wrong and we need to find out what it is,” Riechman
says.
“It gives us warning signs. Is smoking the problem, is it diet, is it
lack of exercise that a person’s cholesterol is too high? It plays a very
useful role, does the job it was intended to do, and we need to back off by
always calling it ‘bad’ cholesterol because it is not totally bad.”
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