Cholesterol and Brain Health – How to prevent a Stroke

It’s known, for example, that high levels of bad-type LDL blood cholesterol are tied to greater susceptibility to strokes as well as heart attacks. A recent study by Canadian neu­rologists at London Health Sciences Centre-University Campus in Ontario, documented that stroke risk goes up along with rises in total cholesterol and bad-type LDL cho­lesterol in particular. High triglycerides also pushed up stroke chances. On the other hand, investigators found that having high levels of good-type HDL cholesterol reduced the odds of stroke, just as it does heart attacks.

Several studies confirm that high good-type HDL cho­lesterol may help you evade a stroke, notably the most common “ischemic” or blood-clot caused strokes. Urhan Goldbourt, at the Sheba Medical Center in Tel-Hashomer, Israel, studied 8586 men for twenty-one years. Decidedly, men with the lowest HDL cholesterol—below 35.5 mil­ligrams per deciliter (mg/dl) were 32 percent more likely to have a stroke then men with the highest HDLs—above 42.5 mg/dl. “Blood HDL cholesterol should be considered

a risk factor for stroke,” he declared. However, he added that high blood pressure poses a greater stroke threat than low HDLs.