As usual, research findings question earlier ones - cholesterol this time

Are you careful about monitoring your cholesterol levels? If you're not watching the actual blood levels, are you conscious of how much "good" and "bad" cholesterol you're consuming? If you think you've been doing well, new research may, yet again, burst your bubble.

HDL is the "good" cholesterol and LDL is the bad guy. How do you remember which is which? I tell people to remember the "H" in HDL should stand for High, and the "L" in LDL should stand for Low. So, HDL is good and you want it high, LDL is bad and you want it low. To tell you the truth, until I started thinking that way, I'd mix them up the odd time too.

So, what's new? The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology has issued a press release about a study that appears in its journal, the FASEB Journal. Researchers gathered data that they found in several studies on cholesterol and compared the findings. They found that HDL, while still good, had varying degrees of good. Some types of HDL were better than others, while some were minimal in helping reduce heart disease.

According to the press release:

The researchers came to this conclusion after reviewing published research on this subject. In their review, they found that the HDL from people with chronic diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, kidney disease, and diabetes is different from the HDL in healthy individuals, even when blood levels of HDL are comparable. They observed that normal, "good," HDL reduces inflammation, while the dysfunctional, "bad," HDL does not.

So, I guess that we've got to start learning which is which when it comes to HDL.

News for Today:

FDA sets 'safe' melamine levels in baby formula

Doctors ditch drug samples to avoid influencing treatment

24 hours of yoga raise money for AIDS

Global AIDS crisis overblown? Some health experts dare to say so

Today at Seniors Support:

Maintaining mealtime dignity - no bibs!

Giving medications safely

Top 10 myths about palliative care

Today at Womb Within:

Sign breastfeeding petition to go to President-Elect Barack Obama

Being disabled doesn’t rule out being a mom