Low cholesterol targets cut cardiovascular events by 33%

17 pointsposted 11 hours ago
by brandonb
(empirical.health)

12 Comments

erelong

2 hours ago

I think there's been a pushback on this view lately, that this is only one factor to consider or that the studies leading to this kind of conclusion are flawed?

kashunstva

3 hours ago

> The <55 mg/dL group had a 33% lower rate of cardiovascular events. That’s surprising large, particularly for a 43-year study.

A 43-year study?! That would put the enrolment date starting in 1983, four years before the first clinically available statin.

The referenced study looked at cardiovascular endpoints at 3 years, not 43 years.

brandonb

11 hours ago

The 55 mg/dL target in this study is somewhere between the 1st and 5th percentile.

70 mg/dL (the control) is around the 10th percentile.

IMO, surprising that reductions at the low end still seem to yield such large benefits. I'd expect it to saturate much earlier.

jvanderbot

7 hours ago

Outlive is an excellent book, and one of the excellent discussions in that book is that there is no safe level of certain kinds of cholesterol. The details are fun do read up on.

It's somewhat bombastic, but a really excellent book for overall "next generation" health.

yfw

5 hours ago

He also recommends people take rapamycin for longevity...

esperent

4 hours ago

It's a while since I read the book but what I remember is him saying that he personally chooses to use it but the evidence is not strong enough to give a definite recommendation so basically, make your own choice.

DANmode

7 hours ago

Perhaps cholesterol is a (protective?) substance associated with a problem,

not the problem in and of itself.

user

9 hours ago

[deleted]

westurner

8 hours ago

Do steak and pork from Cheesecake Factory have cholesterol?

westurner

8 hours ago

ScholarlyArticle: "Intensive LDL Cholesterol Targeting in Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease" (2026) https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2600283

westurner

8 hours ago

Do they control for arterial calcification?

Mentioning this again: Cyclodextrin apparently effectively treats atherosclerosis and arteriosclerosis. [1][2]

[1] "AI analysis of CT scans finds 42.9% of patients have coronary inflammation" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50202532 :

> Can Beta-Cyclodextrin treat (calcified) atherosclerotic plaques? And gout?

> What percentage of cardiovascular "plaque" is sugar alcohol and thus apparently treatable with β or α cyclodextrin, in controls and patients with conditions like Arteriosclerosis and Atherosclerosis?

[2] "Cyclodextrin promotes atherosclerosis regression via macrophage reprogramming" (2016) https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scitranslmed.aad6100