‘Good’ cholesterol may be bad sometimes, says study

'Good' HDL cholesterol might not be so noble after all.

A new study found that higher levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol did not reduce the risk of a heart attack as once believed.

Researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital and the Broad Institute examined the records of over 100,000 patients and found that high HDL levels did not protect against heart attacks.

The patients were selected due to their predisposition to high HDL levels.

“What this really suggests to us is we can’t simply assume just because something raises HDL cholesterol in the blood, that risk for heart attack will be lowered,” said Dr. Sekar Kathiresan, a cardiologist at Mass. General, reported the Boston Globe. 

“It’s very important, because if you ask the average person, the average doctor when they see someone with low HDL cholesterol, their impulse is to raise it with something.”

The New York Times reported that despite the HDL finding, 'bad' LDL cholesterol levels did have a direct effect on heart attack risk.

“That speaks to how powerful LDL is,” Kathiresan said to the Times.

AFP reported that the study also confirmed the importance of LDL-lowering statin drugs.

The findings were published in the Lancet.