August 2, 2010
Young adults out there, take note: The occasional Big Mac, slice of pizza or ice cream cookie binge may be fine — but you’d be wise not to make a habit out of it. Consistently high levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL or “bad”) cholesterol throughout early adulthood (which is what you’ll get if you keep eating junk food every day) can do more harm to your future health than to your current figure, according to a new study . They’re a leading risk factor for coronary heart disease, diabetes and stroke.
February 21, 2004 |
Schering-Plough Corp. researchers say they have figured out how to prevent the body from absorbing cholesterol in the gut, a discovery that may lead to new cholesterol-lowering drugs. They reported in the Feb. 19 issue of Science that the cholesterol-lowering drug Zetia works by blocking a protein called NPC1L1. They genetically engineered mice to lack this protein and found that they absorbed 70% less cholesterol from their diets than did normal mice.
June 9, 1997 |
Women past the age of menopause can be treated for high cholesterol with hormone replacement therapy, according to a study published in the American Medical Assn.'s Archives of Internal Medicine. The study, conducted by doctors from the Chicago Center for Clinical Research, found that women who received a combination of estrogen and the cholesterol drug pravastatin achieved the greatest improvement in cholesterol levels. "These findings support the position . . .
February 7, 1999 |
While off-the-chart cholesterol levels can trigger strokes, a new study raises the possibility that unusually low amounts may sometimes cause them as well. High cholesterol is always portrayed in public health messages as an undivided evil. A study presented Saturday at the American Heart Assn.'s annual stroke conference suggests that, in truth, the facts about cholesterol are a little more complicated, even though on balance low cholesterol is still far better than high cholesterol.
October 22, 1998 |
A new margarine made with a fat-blocking derivative from pine trees lowers blood cholesterol by an average of 14% in people who eat it, U.S. researchers reported. Men and women with borderline-high cholesterol who ate the spread regularly lowered both their total cholesterol and their so-called "bad" LDL cholesterol, which clogs arteries. The spread, sold under the name Benecol in Finland, will be launched in the United States within a few months. Dr.
December 3, 2006 |
Pfizer Inc. said it had cut off all clinical trials and development for a cholesterol drug because of an unexpected number of deaths and cardiovascular problems in patients who used it. The drug maker said an independent board monitoring a study for torcetrapib, a drug that raises good cholesterol, recommended that the work end. Pfizer is asking clinical investigators conducting trials to warn patients to stop taking the drug.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
April 9, 1990 |
Babies who drink mother's milk have lower cholesterol levels than infants fed formulas resembling cow's milk, researchers reported. University of Illinois researchers said they found that infants' cholesterol levels appear to depend on the protein composition of the milk they drink. Cow's milk contains about three times as much protein as human milk, and the proportion of two major types of protein--caesin and whey--also varies, researchers said.
January 9, 1993 |
Older men with low cholesterol are three times as likely to show signs of depression than those with higher cholesterol, a study has found. If the connection is confirmed, researchers said, cholesterol-lowering measures may be recommended only for people at high risk of heart disease.
May 27, 1998 |
Six million healthy Americans with ordinary cholesterol levels might benefit from taking cholesterol-lowering drugs, researchers said. Healthy men and women taking lovastatin, sold as Mevacor, reduced their risk of serious heart trouble 37%, according to a five-year study in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. Currently, national guidelines recommend cholesterol-lowering drugs only for people with high cholesterol.