Treatment to increase HDL cholesterol has been viewed as useful, but new data published in the journal Lancet in May of 2012, suggests that there's no value in doing so to prevent heart attacks. It could be that HDL is a marker for increased risk for heart attack, much like the PSA is a marker for prostate cancer. This does not mean that statin drugs don't benefit people with established heart disease because LDL lowering is directly related to decrease the risk of MI and death in this setting.
However, lifestyle is the most powerful and safest approach by far to prevent heart attacks. Raising HDL cholesterol with drugs or supplements is now called into question as well; so niacin, polycosanol, guggulipid and others must be re-examined. Previous studies with CETP inhibitors (that specifically raise HDL) have shown an increase in the risk for heart attack. How HDL is raised makes the difference. Artificially increasing HDL with drugs doesn't work, but lifestyle does as evidenced by the Framingham studies done several decades ago.
