Too much of anything is not always being better for your health.
Researchers have proven that the high levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol – which is commonly touted as the “good cholesterol” for helping to further reduce risk of stroke and also heart attack – may increase a person’s risk of the premature death as much as its low levels.
The research has suggested that intermediate levels of the HDL cholesterol may increase longevity.
“The findings have surprised us,” said the study’s senior author Ziyad Al-Aly, who is also the Assistant Professor at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri.
High level of cholesterol may affect your life span
Cholesterol is a fatty substance found in blood that can narrow and block heart vessels, causing cardiovascular disease and stroke.
For years, HDL cholesterol has contributed with helping to further remove plaque-building “bad cholesterol” from the arteries.
For this study, researchers have studied kidney function and the HDL cholesterol levels in more than 1.7 million male veterans from October 2003 through September 2004.
Researchers then have also followed participants until September 2013.
In the study, which was published in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, the researchers have shown that high and also low HDL cholesterol levels were associated with an increased risk of the dying among study participants with all levels of kidney Function.
