Only having higher quality of ‘good cholesterol’ is not enough for being a healthy person, said US researchers in the recently published article titled ‘HDL: bridging past and present with a look at the future’ in the December 2008 issue of famous US biology magazine ‘The FASEB Journal’.
The quality of High Density Lipids (HDL) also matters, added the scientists by challenging the conventional thought that simply having high levels of good cholesterol (HDL) and low levels of bad cholesterol (LDL) is necessary for good heath.
Cholesterol is a white, waxy substance, related to fats. It occurs naturally in most animal tissue that is used by the body to maintain the proper function of cell membranes. It travels within the body in two types of proteins: low density lipoproteins (LDL) and high density lipoproteins (HDL). Low level of HDL and high levels of LDL or total cholesterol is an indicator of increased risk for heart disease that shows no indication but can be detected through medical screening and diagnosis.
The HDL varies on bodies and poor quality HDL put bad impact on the body and it depends upon the physical condition of the persons, said US researchers.
“For many years, HDL has been viewed as good cholesterol and has generated a false perception that the more HDL in the blood, the better. It is now apparent that subjects with high HDL are not necessarily protected from heart problems and should ask their doctor to find out whether their HDL is good or bad," said Angelo Scanu, M.D., a pioneer in blood lipid chemistry from University of Chicago and first author of the study.
Despite similar level of HDL, the quality of HDL is different in chronic diseases patients like rheumatoid arthritis, kidney disease, and diabetes from the quality of normal persons, researchers said in their research paper.
‘It was found that normal, good HDL reduces inflammation, while the dysfunctional, bad HDL does not, said researchers.
Commenting on this research paper, Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal said that this research paper clears the reason, ‘why some people can have perfect cholesterol levels, but still develop cardiovascular disease?’
The study is published in the latest issue of The FASEB Journal powered by the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) and is the most cited biology journal worldwide according to the Institute for Scientific Information.
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