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Low HDL cholesterol may not be linked to heart attack risk

Category: Heart Health and Cholesterol

It is generally considered that cholesterol testing that reveals levels of both harmful LDL and beneficial HDL is critical to gauging a person's overall cardiovascular condition. However, a new study is questioning the importance of HDL levels.

A team of researchers from the Netherlands found that individuals who have genetic variations that make them prone to depressed HDL levels are no more likely to have a heart attack than those with normal HDL, according to their study, which was published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.

The investigation looked at the cardiovascular health of nearly 70,000 individuals. In general, low levels HDL cholesterol were associated with an increased risk of heart attack, but not in those with the genetic variation that programmed them for this characteristic.

The team said this may indicate that most people have low HDL because of poor diet and exercise habits. This may also produce other cardiovascular risk factors like high blood pressure and obesity. However, low HDL in and of itself may not necessarily impact heart health to any great degree.