It appears that since half of all heart attacks occur in people with normal
cholesterol levels, we would be preventing just as many heart attacks by trying
to RAISE cholesterol levels, and then we would eliminate the known risk
factors inherent in having too LOW a cholesterol level; i.e., higher incidence of
cancer, depression, suicide, etc.
(Note, of course, that "very high" in this context is not even defined- it
could be a cholesterol level of 650, right? And no other risk factors are
accounted for in the statement either. Those "twice as likely to have a heart attack
with high cholesterol" people could also be smokers, or 200 pounds
overweight, or diabetic, etc.)
What a joke!
Maddy Mason
Hudson Valley, NY
July 17, 2003
NUTRITION NEWS FOCUS
"Nutrition news is important. We help you understand it!"
Today's Topic: Relative Risk
The concept of relative risk (RR) is important in epidemiology, or
observational studies of people. RR is how much more likely
individuals in a population are going to develop a condition based on
what they eat or how they behave. The RR for lung cancer in cigarette
smokers is about 10, meaning that if you have that nasty habit you are
10 times more likely to get lung cancer than someone who never smoked.
But nonsmokers occasionally get lung cancer, and most smokers do not
die of lung cancer. To put things in proportion, practically all
dietary risk factors for chronic diseases have an RR of 2 or less.
While this is statistically significant, it is not particularly strong
by standards of environmental epidemiology. On the other hand,
bringing an RR of 2 down to 1 means that we cut the incidence of a
disease by half, and this would be a major public health effect.
HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: Remember that none of this
means anything definite for an individual. RR is a statistic
generated to compare large numbers of people. As another example,
someone with very high blood cholesterol is twice as likely to have a
heart attack than someone with normal cholesterol. But half the heart
attacks occur in people with desirable cholesterol levels.
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