Good 'cholesterol' can adversely affect some people

Having high levels of HDL cholesterol (also called good cholesterol) is often considered a positive thing. But that may not be true for everyone: According to a new study, high levels of HDL cholesterol are not always healthy for menopausal women.

According to the American Heart Association, HDL cholesterol protects the heart by making LDL ("bad" cholesterol) away from arteries and liver to remove them from the body. In general, the body has high levels of HDL and low LDL is considered healthy.

Higher HDL cholesterol may not always be good for menopausal women.

But according to Live Science, in the new study, researchers found that higher HDL cholesterol levels (measured by routine blood tests to measure total cholesterol through HDL) may not always be It is also good for menopausal women like previous experts think. Moreover, this finding also suggests that the use of conventional HDL measurement may not accurately predict the risk of heart disease among postmenopausal women.

Samar El Khoudary, an epidemiologist at Pittsburgh School of Public Health, said it was because measuring HDL cholesterol was not as simple as people thought. HDL cholesterol is not only a type of particle but is actually a group of particles found in the blood, these particles have different sizes, shapes and compositions.

According to the study, there is a better way to look closely at the size and number of HDL particles that can be measured in the blood using a technique called ion motion analysis, to let the doctor better understand. about the effect of HDL on the heart of menopausal women.

The meaning of HDL quantity

In the study, the scientists looked at data collected from nearly 1,400 women in the United States between the ages of 45 and 84, who took part in a long study of atherosclerosis and arteriosclerosis. The researchers measured their HDL cholesterol levels by both conventional methods and ion motion methods.

Research shows that menopausal women with higher HDL levels (identified by conventional testing) have a higher risk of atherosclerosis than those with lower HDL. Meanwhile, when measured by ion motion, the opposite result is obtained.

The higher the number of HDL particles, the greater the risk of atherosclerosis.

But it's not just because the amount of HDL particles measured by ion motion tests makes a difference in the risk of heart disease. Their size is also important: the greater the number of HDL particles, the greater the risk of atherosclerosis, especially for women who are about to menopause .

El Khoudary said the findings suggest that large HDL particles may be more prone to dysfunction when women are about to enter menopause. This dysfunction may be due to many different changes occurring in the female body at this time, including hormonal changes, especially a decrease in estrogen decline; High levels of fat, such as LDL; change the fat distribution on the woman's body and the health of blood vessels.

Nieca Goldberg, a cardiologist and medical director of Joan H. Tisch Women's Health Center in NYU Langone Health, New York, said the study opens up the potential for HDL use to assess risk. heart in menopausal women.

These findings may help doctors better assess cardiovascular risk in the future, but now women do not need to be tested for this type of cholesterol. However, they can improve their cardiovascular health by focusing on diet, physical activity and lifestyle when nearing menopause. Cholesterol, no matter what kind, is not the only cause of cardiovascular disease.