Front cover of Culture 6 October 2002
When doctors won't tell . . . Of all the online nutritional information, nutritional facts, medical and dietary sites there are to choose from, in an article entitled "How to ease the pain" The Sunday Times magazine, Culture, published a list of just five websites it considered reliable and informative.
This site was one of that five.

Custom Search




Bookmark and Share
Second Opinions: Exposing dietary misinformation

Barry Groves,PhD

Exposing dietary misinformation
Barry Groves

Low Cholesterol May Mean Poorer Mental Powers



Elias PK, Elias MF, D'Agostino RB, et al. Serum Cholesterol and Cognitive Performance in the Framingham Heart Study. Psychosomatic Medicine 2005; 67:24?30.

ABSTRACT

Objective: The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between total cholesterol (TC) and cognitive performance within the context of the Framingham Heart Study, a large, community-based, prospective investigation of cardiovascular risk factors.

Methods: Participants were 789 men and 1105 women from the Framingham Heart Study original cohort who were free of dementia and stroke and who received biennial TC determinations over a 16- to 18-year surveillance period. Cognitive tests were administered 4 to 6 years subsequent to the surveillance period and consisted of measures of learning, memory, attention/ concentration, abstract reasoning, concept formation, and organizational abilities. Statistical models were adjusted for multiple demographic and biological covariates.

Results: There was a significant positive linear association between TC and measures of verbal fluency, attention/concentration, abstract reasoning, and a composite score measuring multiple cognitive domains. Performance levels for three clinically defined groups were examined. Participants with "desirable" TC levels (<200 mg/dL) performed less well than participants with borderline-high TC levels (200-239 mg/dL) and participants with high TC levels (>240 mg/dL).

Conclusions: Lower naturally occurring TC levels are associated with poorer performance on cognitive measures, which place high demands on abstract reasoning, attention/concentration, word fluency, and executive functioning.


COMMENT: The lead author, Dr. Penelope K. Elias from Boston University said that "It is not entirely surprising that lower cholesterol levels were associated with moderately lower levels of cognitive function, given (that) cholesterol is important in brain function."

This is not the first study to show that lowering cholesterol levels can have adverse side effects. Cholesterol is a vital component in so many body functions that practically every body cell has the capacity to manufacture it. This is a fully automatic process in which our bodies make the exact amount of cholesterol they need, and they are not in the habit of making substances that will harm them. You mess about with this process at your peril.

For more detail on cholesterol and its functions, see www.cholesterol-and-health.org.uk

Last updated 20 February 2005


Custom Search

books and video
Trick and Treat cover
"A great book that shatters so many of the nutritional fantasies and fads of the last twenty years. Read it and prolong your life."
Clarissa Dickson Wright

Natural Health & Weight Loss cover

"NH&WL may be the best non-technical book on diet ever written"
Joel Kauffman, PhD, Professor Emeritus, University of the Sciences, Philadelphia, PA


- a completely new kind of video and DVD.
Fluoride:Drinking Ourselves to Death?
"Must be regarded as essential reading . . . informative and thought-provoking." Dr Vyvyan Howard, MB. ChB. PhD. FRCPath. University of Liverpool.
med411.com Award ** PLEASE DESCRIBE THIS IMAGE **
Disclaimer: Second Opinions is the website of Barry Groves PhD, offering online nutritional facts and online nutritional information. This website should be used to support rather than replace medical advice advocated by physicians.

Valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional