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Dr. Len and Nurse Vicki present everything you need to know about cholesterol. What it is, what the fractions mean, what they predict, and what we can do to deal with elevated levels. Statins, how they work, what they do, and their side effects are reviewed. The role of inflammation, oxidized cholesterol, and why it should not be lowered too much are explained....

Cholesterol is related to but not the direct cause of arteriosclerosis, heart disease, and strokes. We cannot live without cholesterol, we must have it to make cell membranes, vitamin D, many hormones, and bile salts. Yet it is related to heart disease. In general, the higher the cholesterol the worse the risk for heart disease. But it is not the total that is...

  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...