Study: Too Little Cholesterol Also A Risk

January 5, 2001

TOKYO (Asahi News Service) - Most people are aware of the dangers of excess
cholesterol, but recent research has found that those whose cholesterol
levels are too low are also at risk. A healthy human body must have between
180 and 240 milligrams of cholesterol per 100 milliliters of blood,
according to the findings.

Researchers at Banyu Pharmaceutical Co. said they made the discovery in the
course of large-scale clinical trials of a drug that reduces cholesterol
levels in the human body.

Between 1992 and 1999, the researchers administered the drug, Simvastatin,
to about 50,000 people aged between 35 and 70 who were diagnosed as having
hypercholesterolemia, or too much cholesterol.

Of the approximately 40,000 patients who had no history of heart problems,
about 800 died during the trial period. Causes of death included heart
failure, cancer and strokes, the researchers said.

The research team found that patients whose cholesterol levels were between
180 and 280 milligrams per 100 milliliters of blood died at the same rate as
did the general population. But the death rate for those whose cholesterol
levels fell outside - either above or below - the 180-280 milligram range
was
more than twice that of people whose cholesterol was within the range.
If the number of cardiac infarctions and other heart diseases is included,
the mortality rate rises for people whose cholesterol level exceeds the
240-milligram level.

Mortality rates were at their lowest when overall cholesterol levels
included between 80 and 160 milligrams of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) -
the so-called bad cholesterol. Higher or lower LDL levels correlated with an
increased mortality rate.

The Japan Arteriosclerosis Society currently specifies in its guidelines an
overall cholesterol level of more than 220 milligrams and an LDL level of
more than 140 milligrams as indication of hypercholesterolemia. Those
maximums are even lower for people with other risk factors, such as obesity.

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