Cholesterol

There is a soft waxy substance found in fats that are in the blood stream and all of your bodies cells, it is called cholesterol. It is used to form cell membranes, hormones, plus needed for other things, that’s why it is an key element of the medical of your body. But too much or too little cholesterol in the body may well reason medicinal concerns. Cholesterol possibly will not be dissolved in the blood so it is transported by lipoproteins. Here are two special kinds of lipoproteins that transport cholesterol throughout the body called Low density plus high density lipoproteins. LDL cholesterol is ... Read Full Story

The hardening of the arteries associated with heart attacks and strokes is not just a modern phenomenon, according to new research showing ancient Egypt's pharaohs suffered from heart disease too. "Atherosclerosis is ubiquitous among modern day humans and, despite difference in ancient and modern lifestyles, we found that it was rather common in ancient Egyptians of high socioeconomic status living as much as three millennia ago," said Gregory Thomas, a cardiology professor at the University of California, Irvine. "The findings suggest that we may have to look beyond modern risk factors to fully understand the disease," added Thomas, one of the co-authors of the ... Read Full Story

ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - High doses of an experimental heart medicine being developed by Merck & Co MRK.N continued to show beneficial effects on both good HDL and bad LDL cholesterol levels eight weeks after patients stopped taking the drug, in a mid-stage study. The drug, anacetrapib, belongs to a new class of cholesterol treatments called CETP inhibitors that have a checkered past. A similar Pfizer Inc drug called torcetrapib was one of the most costly and highest-profile failures in pharmaceutical industry history. Development of the Pfizer drug, which dramatically raised HDL levels, had been halted suddenly due to serious safety issues, including increased ... Read Full Story

When people talk about dietary fiber, they immediately think of older people taking large fiber tablets. The truth is, proper fiber intake can benefit everyone at any age. Fiber intake can help ease digestion and it can also lower cholesterol, which is a leading cause of heart disease, making it a highly effective, multi-purpose treatment for healthy living. What's interesting about fiber is that it isn't an essential nutrient in the sense that a body absolutely requires it for survival or adds something missing from the body. Instead, dietary fiber is a nutrient that helps act against harmful processes such as blood sugar variations, ... Read Full Story

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A US study on cholesterol released today contains both good and bad news: The good news: Between 1999 and 2006, the number of adults in the US with high levels of artery-clogging LDL cholesterol, the "bad" cholesterol, decreased by about one-third. The bad news: A high percentage of adults still are not being screened or treated for high cholesterol levels, putting their health in jeopardy. Adults at greatest risk for heart attack and other heart-related "events" continue to have the highest prevalence of high LDL cholesterol, Dr. Elena V. Kuklina and associates at the US Centers for Disease Control ... Read Full Story