World Heart Day 2024: High cholesterol may not be as bad or dangerous as you think
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World Heart Day is marked globally on September 29 each year to raise awareness of cardiovascular disease and on the eve of the annual event, a South Florida cardiac specialist revealed in a groundbreaking research, that having high cholesterol levels does not always lead to heart disease. The revolutionary heart study was published in the American College of Cardiology Journal and upended long-held belief to reveal that high levels of bad cholesterol or low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) did not always lead to coronary plaque buildup or heart disease.
KETO Diet Shocker:
The doctor behind this, Dr Jonathan Fialkow, Deputy Director of Clinical Cardiology at Baptist Health Miami Cardiac and Vascular Institute, explained, “This is because they (participants on the KETO diet) are metabolically healthy,” Fialkow said. “This shows that high LDLs might not be the risk for heart disease we thought it would be.”
This study compared 80 people with an average age of 55, on the low-carbohydrate ketogenic (KETO) diet or on low-carb/ high-protein and fat diets for nearly five years, enrolled in a Miami heart study and not on a special diet. They had the same level of disease risk but the study found no increased progression in either group.
Dr Fialkow assured, “I keep the data clean and partner with academics” while adding that he had a significant role in the Miami heart study and supplied the data to UCLA researchers who conducted the KETO study. The study came to the conclusion that there was no association between cholesterol levels and plaque burden in either group hence, people may not be at risk for heart disease, even if they have high cholesterol, as long as they do not consume lots of sugar and carbohydrates.
Is Your Doctor Wrong About Cholesterol?
The results could influence how doctors approach cholesterol management in patients but Dr Fiaklow advised that doctors should not ignore high levels of LDL (bad cholesterol) when treating patients though they now know other factors should be considered before prescribing medications. He suggested, “Patient risk assessment should be personalised and precise. The pushback comes from generations who believe fat is bad and cholesterol is bad, but that is not substantiated by evidence. The results challenge the conventional wisdom of these markers being predictors of heart disease.”
The South Florida cardiac specialist further recommended that anyone with high cholesterol or a genetic predisposition to heart disease should work with a doctor “early in the trajectory of a chronic disease” to develop a personalised approach to prevention. Researchers highlighted that most of the clinical trials involving treatments included patients mostly considered “metabolically unhealthy” but they also note that lipid-lowering medications, including statins, have been effective in reducing heart attacks in high-risk populations.
Earlier a March 2022 study from RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences too revealed that the link between 'bad' cholesterol (LDL-C) and poor health outcomes, such as heart attack and stroke, may not be as strong as previously thought. The findings of the study were published in the journal 'JAMA Internal Medicine'.
