High cholesterol: can it protect against heart failure, not cause it?

The idea that high cholesterol levels cause heart failure and disease may not be accurate, a new study published in Annals of Internal Medicine October 2006, has suggested. Presented at the World Congress of Cardiology, the study goes so far as suggesting that high cholesterol may protect some people from a fatal heart attack.

Researchers found that individuals with high levels of C-reactive protein (an inflammatory marker) are protected if they also have high cholesterol levels. Those who had high CRP and low cholesterol were almost twice as likely to die from heart failure.

Bonnie - I have been saying for years that there so much more to heart health than just cholesterol.