references anyone, re: correl'n (or not) betw cholesterol+heart dis.?

[patandchickens]

I am trying to learn more about this subject, and am looking particularly for studies that looked at the relationship between blood cholesterol levels and heart disease (+ mortality from heart disease), WHILE CONTROLLING FOR other factors such as triglyceride levels and diet and coexisting medical conditions.

(I.e. studies that were able to look at the contribution of blood cholesterol levels to coronary disease *independant of* the contribution of other things that, in the general populace, are often correlated with high cholesterol)

Anything come to mind?

Thanks for any leads,

Pat

 

[Wifezilla]

"Cholesterol is not the major culprit in heart disease or any disease. If it becomes oxidized it can irritate/inflame tissues in which it is lodged in, such as the endothelium (lining of the arteries). This would be one of numerous causes of chronic inflammation that can injure the lining of arteries. However, many good fats are easily oxidized such as omega-3 fatty acids, but it does not mean that you should avoid it at all costs.

Common sense would indicate that we should avoid the oxidation (rancidity) of cholesterol and fatty acids and not get rid of important life-giving molecules. Using the same conventional medical thinking that is being used for cholesterol would lead one to believe that doctors should reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease by taking out everybody's brain.

In fact, cholesterol is being transported to tissues as part of an inflammatory response that is there to repair damage.

The fixation on cholesterol as a major cause of heart disease defies the last 15 years of science and deflects from real causes such as the damage (via glycation) that sugars such as glucose and fructose inflict on tissues, including the lining of arteries, causing chronic inflammation and resultant plaque."
http://loveforlife.com.au/content/0...art-disease-dr-ron-rosedale-28th-october-2007

 

[Wifezilla]

"Despite 30 years of study, we still don't know how cholesterol causes heart disease." But, with the new findings, scientists are getting closer.
Earlier studies had shown that heart disease is about more than just high LDL ("bad") cholesterol. Cells known as macrophages also play a critical role. Macrophages are part of the innate immune system that typically gobble up pathogens and clear away dead cells. But they also take up and degrade cholesterol derivatives. When they get overloaded with those lipoproteins, they take on a foamy appearance under the microscope to become what scientists aptly refer to as foam cells. Those foam cells are the ones that seem to have critical importance in the development of atherosclerosis.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100202120802.htm

 

[abifae]

Knew I'd see you answering Auntie!

Now I don't have to go look up the pages for her

 

[patandchickens]

Thank you for the links Wifezilla but I may not have been clear enough in my original post -- I am NOT looking for unsupported assertions (your first link) or descriptions of biochemical pathways (the second link).

I am looking for ACTUAL RESEARCH STUDIES (journal papers, with data and all that) that look at the relationship between blood cholesterol levels and heart disease, and account for confounding factors in the analysis.

Pat

 

[abifae]

All the ones I have require paid memberships to journals.

Do you have JSTOR or any through a university? I was using my sister's access lol. But I should be able to find my way back into the system and root out articles >.>

 

[patandchickens]

Sure, just give me the citation info, that is all I need

Thanks,

Pat

 

[freemotion]

Might find more from other countries, other than the USA.

 

[abifae]

It wouldn't let me log in! *remembers her sister is currently graduating*.

And I can't find my list of articles...

BUT! lol

I found this

http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=cholesterol+heart+correlation&hl=en&as_sdt=0&as_vis=1&oi=scholart

Best this little flake could do This is what I get for having my laptop die on me.

 

[patandchickens]

Thanks abifae, some of those may be promising, I will have to look through in more detail! My problem is that while my husband can pull a few full-text journal papers for me, I can't ask him to do a *lot* of them for me or to do literature searches.

I did find this journal letter, which while it is not exactly what I'm looking for does have some interesting info (with plentiful citations) and interesting arguments, although it opens some intractable statistical cans o' worms (not noted explicitly by the author of the letter, but inherent in what he's saying about dichotomous-comparison vs dose-response effects). http://qjmed.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/95/6/397

I am surprised this is so hard to find information on. One might think it would be the FIRST question a person would ask - is blood cholesterol *after you factor out other things* a good predictor of heart disease?

Hm.


Pat