Most people recognize that there is a relationship between cholesterol levels and risk of heart disease. But new research from Copenhagen University Hospital and University of Copenhagen shows that a certain kind of cholesterol might affect our health differently, that is, through a role in the immune system.
Most people recognize that there is a relationship between cholesterol levels and risk of heart disease. But new research from Copenhagen University Hospital and University of Copenhagen shows that a certain kind of cholesterol might affect our health differently, that is, through a role in the immune system.
In brief, the concentration of HDL cholesterol – which is often called the “good” cholesterol – seems to matter with respect to getting infectious diseases, such as gastroenteritis or pneumonia.
“Surprisingly, we found that individuals with both low and high HDL cholesterol had high risk of hospitalization with an infectious disease. Perhaps more importantly, these same groups of individuals had high risk of dying from infectious disease,” explains professor and chief physician at University of Copenhagen and Copenhagen University Hospital Børge Nordestgaard.
The results were based on data from 100,000 individuals from the Copenhagen General Population Study who were followed for more than 6 years using national Danish health registries, and have just been published in the highest ranking journal within cardiovascular disease – European Heart Journal.
Read more at University of Copenhagen The Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences
Photo credit: geralt via Pixabay
