“Cholesterol Uncertainty”
Cholesterol lowering drugs allegedly save you from hardening of the arteries by raising so-called “good cholesterol (HDL)” and lowering supposedly “bad cholesterol (LDL).” In March of 2012, an important paper was presented at the American College of Cardiology (ACC) 61st Annual Scientific Session, which found evidence that lower “bad LDL-cholesterol” predated the development of cancer by about 2 years. The association between serum cholesterol levels and cancer incidence was first documented more than 30 years ago. A 2007 meta-analysis by Drs Alawi Alsheikh-Ali and Richard Karas (Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA) showed there was a “significant and linear relationship” between LDL levels achieved and risk of new cancer cases. There is agreement that low “bad LDL-cholesterol” levels are evident at the time of cancer diagnosis. The “forward-causality” hypothesis states that depressed “bad LDL cholesterol” is a precursor to cancer.
