Cholesterol is a good thing

[Juice Authority]

Is “Bad” LDL Cholesterol Really Bad?

Let's examine this..

AAS wreaks havic on HDL levels, the "good" cholesteral and elevates the levels of LDL. It puts the LDL/HDL ratio way out of wack. It causes Triglycerides levels to be high and increases the risk of heart disease...blah, blah, blah...

Did we all forget where testosterone comes from? Well, it's made from Cholesteral. Igamine that. Another interesting fact is that 10 to 20% of the brain is composed of cholesterol. Essential substances like the sex hormones and vitamin D are also constructed of cholesterol. Clinical studies have shown that when LDL cholesterol level is low, you will get ill sooner. Very low cholesterol levels are also bad for the liver and the brain. Low cholesterol levels have also been associated with depression (the lower the cholesterol the more aggressive the depression).

Thoughts?

 

[LVTitan]

interesting, but my LDL levels are usually in the upper range of normal, so i never really had them very low. my HDL has been way below normal on cycle though.

 

[anthrax]

Is “Bad” LDL Cholesterol Really Bad?

Let's examine this..

AAS wreaks havic on HDL levels, the "good" cholesteral and elevates the levels of LDL. It puts the LDL/HDL ratio way out of wack. It causes Triglycerides levels to be high and increases the risk of heart disease...blah, blah, blah...

Did we all forget where testosterone comes from? Well, it's made from Cholesteral. Igamine that. Another interesting fact is that 10 to 20% of the brain is composed of cholesterol. Essential substances like the sex hormones and vitamin D are also constructed of cholesterol. Clinical studies have shown that when LDL cholesterol level is low, you will get ill sooner. Very low cholesterol levels are also bad for the liver and the brain. Low cholesterol levels have also been associated with depression (the lower the cholesterol the more aggressive the depression).

Thoughts?

What matters is the HDL/LDL ratio

The higher the better

 

[Shaggy69]

What matters is the HDL/LDL ratio

The higher the better

Recent studies I have read on PUBMED sugget that it's actually quantity of total lipids that is the best predictor, not lipid profile.

 

[Ulter]

They don't know what affect chol levels have on healthy exercising men.

 

[akita27]

Show me studies that show that very low LDL levels can cause a quicker onset of illness??? I have never heard of this. In fact, I have always heard that the lower the better, in terms of LDL levels.

 

[Juice Authority]

Show me studies that show that very low LDL levels can cause a quicker onset of illness??? I have never heard of this. In fact, I have always heard that the lower the better, in terms of LDL levels.

Well then you need to do more reading on the topic...

http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=1208

Very Low Cholesterol and Cholesterol Lowering

Year Published:
1994

Product Code:
71-0059

A Statement for Healthcare Professionals From the American Heart Association Task Force on Cholesterol Issues

Author(s):
Michael H. Criqui, MD, MPH




Footnotes

Epidemiological studies have consistently reported a U-shaped relationship between total cholesterol and all-cause mortality. A recent meta-analysis confirms that at high levels of cholesterol the increase in total mortality is due to a sharply increased risk of cardiovascular death, particularly death from coronary heart disease (CHD). At low levels of cholesterol, where the cardiovascular death rate is low, the increase in total mortality is due to a number of causes, including trauma, cancer, hemorrhagic stroke, and respiratory and infectious diseases. It should also be noted that there is no trend for an increase in total mortality unless the total cholesterol level is less than 160 mg/dL. It is estimated that in the United States less than 10% of middle-aged men and women have serum cholesterol levels below this range. Careful analysis has revealed that a substantial portion of this excess mortality at low levels of cholesterol appears to be caused by poor health at baseline in many persons with lower cholesterol. However, after exclusion of ill persons and early deaths, a residual association between very low cholesterol and mortality persists in some studies. Although this issue clearly requires further evaluation, it is of little current relevance to the prevention of cardiovascular disease in patients or populations.

Completed clinical trials of cholesterol lowering have focused on patients with high cholesterol, and investigators have typically reported a modest reduction in cholesterol, so that even after intervention cholesterol remains relatively high. As expected, a decrease in CHD has been observed in these trials. Meta-analyses of trials of cholesterol lowering in patients with established CHD (secondary prevention), in which subjects were at high short-term risk of death from CHD, have demonstrated significant declines in total mortality as well as CHD death. Clinical trials and regression studies have shown that cholesterol lowering can be beneficial, even in patients with advanced coronary disease.

Unexpectedly, in trials of healthy persons (primary prevention), where the short-term risk of CHD death is lower, the reduction in coronary death has frequently been offset by an increase in various non-CHD causes of death, such as some cancers, hemorrhagic stroke, and trauma (accidents, homicides, and suicides). This finding appears stronger for trials of pharmaceutical intervention than for dietary intervention. The findings of primary prevention studies require cautious consideration. First, the number of deaths in primary prevention studies is typically small, so that no single study provides clear-cut evidence. Second, there are different non-CHD end points in excess in different studies, and there is no dose-response relationship between such end points and cholesterol lowering. Third, despite some suggested mechanisms of action (eg, brain serotonin for trauma), no cause-and-effect mechanism has been established. In contrast, the experimental evidence for a causal association between cholesterol and atherogenesis is robust and convincing. Fourth, coronary and other atherosclerotic morbidity, as well as mortality, is reduced with cholesterol lowering. Comparable data on traumatic or other non-cardiovascular disease morbidity has not been routinely collected. Fifth, few primary prevention studies have been extended for prolonged periods, usually because the study ends after a reduction in cardiac events is observed. Longer studies are needed to examine the effect of long-term cholesterol lowering on total mortality. %Further work is clearly required to determine if there are any true hazards of cholesterol lowering. All of these considerations from both primary and secondary prevention studies are reflected in the new revised National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel guidelines, which focus pharmacologic therapy on those at high risk of CHD, and particularly those with CHD.

"Very Low Cholesterol and Cholesterol Lowering" was approved by the Science Advisory Committee of the American Heart Association on June 16, 1994. Requests for reprints should be sent to the Office of Scientific Affairs, 7272 Greenville Ave, Dallas, TX 75231-4596. © 1994 American Heart Association, Inc. November, 1994

 

[Juice Authority]

Furthermore, elevated LDL Cholesterol levels are only dangerous if they become oxidized in which case they become VLDL.

 

[Juice Authority]

Low LDL and depression...http://www.pslgroup.com/dg/fff8a.htm

 

[akita27]

This study seems to contradict what you are saying. The bottomline is that a low total cholesterol # is optimal.



CAN YOUR CHOLESTEROL BE TOO LOW?

Report #7202
A report in the medical journal, Preventive Medicine, shows that it's healthful to have a low cholesterol (1).

Young men with low blood cholesterol levels were the ones most likely to enjoy good health and live long lives. The only ones with low cholesterols who were likely to die early were those who smoked.

Previous studies have associated low blood cholesterol levels with liver cancer, lung disease, depression, alcoholism and suicide. The latest data shows that a low cholesterol may be associated with cancer, but does not cause it. Before a person develops the symptoms of cancer, he often loses interest in eating and loses weight, which causes his cholesterol to drop. The most famous study on the effects of cholesterol on health/ was done in Framingham, Massachusetts. Blood cholesterol levels were tested every two years. Researchers showed that cholesterols started to fall up to 8 years prior to a person dying of cancer, and that those with the greatest fall in cholesterol in a 4 years period were those who were most likely to develop cancer (2,3).

A study from Russia showed that men who have low blood cholesterol levels are more likely to drink, are much thinner and have far less education than men with normal or high cholesterol levels. Lacking formal education, drinking heavily and getting into accidents caused both the low cholesterol and the early deaths (4). Lung disease, alcoholism, certain types of cancers and many other illnesses suppress appetite, so people eat less, causing their blood cholesterol levels to drop significantly (5,6).

There is no evidence that a low blood cholesterol causes you to die early. If you have a low blood cholesterol level, your doctor could check you for a hidden cancer, addiction to alcohol, cigarettes or drugs, emotional disorder or other disease. If none is found, you should be delighted and usually can expect to live a long time. On the other hand, if your cholesterol is high, you should start to worry because you are at increased risk for a heart attack and certain types of cancers and should start immediately on a diet that is low in saturated fat, partially hydrogenated oils and refined carbohydrates; and high in vegetables, such as the DASH diet.

By Gabe Mirkin, M.D., for CBS Radio News
Checked 8/9/05


1) C Iribarren, DR Jacobs, ML Slattery, K Liu, S Sidney, BJ Hebert, JM Roseman. Epidemiology of low total plasma cholesterol concentration among young adults: The CARDIA study. Preventive Medicine 26: 4(JUL-AUG 1997):495-507.

2) SJ Sharp, SJ Pocock. Time trends in serum cholesterol before cancer death. Epidemiology 8: 2 (MAR 1997):132-136.

3) M Zureik, D Courbon, P Ducimetiere. Decline in serum total cholesterol and the risk of death from cancer. Epidemiology 8: 2 (MAR 1997):137-143.

4) DB Shestov, AD Deev, AN Klimov, CE Davis, HA Tyroler. Circulation. 1993(Sept);88:3:846-853.

5) Circulation September, 1992.

6) Archives of Internal Medicine July, 1992.

 

[Ulter]

The problem with everything you're both posting here is that it's at least 10 years old, and most of it is more than 10 years old. Most recent studies and reviews have concluded that lifestyle was never taken into consideration when studies were done to determine if Chol levels were an indicator of CAD. So the results may have been due to lack of excercise by those people who had CAD onset rather than just their chol levels.
It reminds me of the medical community telling women not to smoke if they took birth control pill because studies showed women taking birth contol pills had a higher rate of cancer. Then 20 years later they figured out that the studies were all done on women who smoked and it had nothing to do with the birth control pills.

 

[Juice Authority]

The problem with everything you're both posting here is that it's at least 10 years old, and most of it is more than 10 years old. Most recent studies and reviews have concluded that lifestyle was never taken into consideration when studies were done to determine if Chol levels were an indicator of CAD. So the results may have been due to lack of excercise by those people who had CAD onset rather than just their chol levels.
It reminds me of the medical community telling women not to smoke if they took birth control pill because studies showed women taking birth contol pills had a higher rate of cancer. Then 20 years later they figured out that the studies were all done on women who smoked and it had nothing to do with the birth control pills.

That's acutally a very valid point.

 

[anthrax]

Anyway cholesterol from our diet is not corelated to blood cholesterol

So a more interesting question is the link between saturated fats, blood cholesterol and Testosterone

 

[bigmann245]

the other thing is high or low cholesterol effects people differently. some people are prone to heart disease. but the fact remains that AAS elevates bad cholesterol and lowers good cholesterol and this is the fuel that anti AAS doctors use to scare people away from using them and keeping them illegal. you just have to make sure while taking AAS you get your bloodwork checked to see how it effects you. i had my bloodwork done while on and i was in the normal limits for everything. the only bad thing that showed up was high ketones and triglycerides. but i knew why so i wasnt scared. after i stopped taking AAS i went and got checked again and i was perfect. i do my own long term effects studies although the docs dont know what im doing.