What Makes Good Cholesterol So 'Good' For Us?

Succinct Summary:
----------------------------------------------------------------
It really isn't known why "Good Cholesterol" is good for us.

The present study has isolated and analysed "Good Cholesterol" from
healthy individuals and those suffering from Coronary Artery Disease (CAD).

HDL from healthy individuals contained several proteins involved in the
innate immune response (including complement proteins), several serine
proteinase inhibitors, and many acute-phase inflammatory proteins. By
contrast, HDL from patients with CAD contained high levels of the
protein apoE, which is involved in lipoprotein transport.

"... further analysis of which might provide new understanding of the
mechanisms by which HDL provides protection from cardiovascular disease ..."

So, it still isn't known what makes "Good Cholesterol" or HDL good, but
research is underway by studying the differences between healthy and
diseased people.
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Source: Journal of Clinical Investigation
Date: March 4, 2007
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0302131126.htm

What Makes Good Cholesterol So 'Good' For Us?

Science Daily — High levels of good cholesterol (high density
lipoprotein (HDL)) are associated with protection from cardiovascular
disease, which remains the leading cause of death in the United States.
But what exactly makes HDL so “good” for us?

In an attempt to answer this question researchers from the University of
Washington, Seattle, have determined exactly what proteins are contained
within HDL and have identified a number of surprises; further analysis
of which might provide new understanding of the mechanisms by which HDL
provides protection from cardiovascular disease and lead to the
development of both accurate indicators of disease risk and new
treatments for this disease.

In the study, which appears in the March issue of the Journal of
Clinical Investigation, Jay Heinecke and colleagues isolated HDL from
both healthy individuals and individuals with coronary artery disease
(CAD) and assessed the protein content of these large complexes by mass
spectrometry.

As well as the expected proteins involved in lipid metabolism, HDL from
healthy individuals contained several proteins involved in the innate
immune response (including complement proteins), several serine
proteinase inhibitors, and many acute-phase inflammatory proteins. By
contrast, HDL from patients with CAD contained high levels of the
protein apoE, which is involved in lipoprotein transport.

As discussed in the accompanying commentary by Muredach Reilly and Alan
Tall, this study supports “the concept that HDL plays a role in innate
immunity and in the regulation of proteolytic cascades involved in
inflammatory and coagulation processes.” and “could eventually help in
the development of biomarkers to predict the outcome of interventions
that alter HDL levels and functions.”

Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by Journal
of Clinical Investigation.

But "good" cholesterol is meaningless. There's really no such thing as
"good" or "bad" cholesterol ('cept maybe oxidized cholesterol).


On Sun, 04 Mar 2007 08:23:03 -0500, Jbuch wrote:

Succinct Summary:
----------------------------------------------------------------
It really isn't known why "Good Cholesterol" is good for us.

The present study has isolated and analysed "Good Cholesterol" from
healthy individuals and those suffering from Coronary Artery Disease
(CAD).

HDL from healthy individuals contained several proteins involved in the
innate immune response (including complement proteins), several serine
proteinase inhibitors, and many acute-phase inflammatory proteins. By
contrast, HDL from patients with CAD contained high levels of the
protein apoE, which is involved in lipoprotein transport.

"... further analysis of which might provide new understanding of the
mechanisms by which HDL provides protection from cardiovascular disease
..."

So, it still isn't known what makes "Good Cholesterol" or HDL good, but
research is underway by studying the differences between healthy and
diseased people.
-----------------------------------------------------------------





Source: Journal of Clinical Investigation
Date: March 4, 2007
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0302131126.htm

What Makes Good Cholesterol So 'Good' For Us?

Science Daily — High levels of good cholesterol (high density
lipoprotein (HDL)) are associated with protection from cardiovascular
disease, which remains the leading cause of death in the United States.

In what study? There are many studies that disagree with this assertion.




--
Bob in CT

Bob in CT wrote:
But "good" cholesterol is meaningless. There's really no such thing as
"good" or "bad" cholesterol ('cept maybe oxidized cholesterol).

Hi Bob,

There is a lot of truth to what you said, but most of us have been
conditioned to several false "truths".

First - cholesterol was bad.
Then, there were more than one kind of cholesterol
Then, some of the cholestrol was bad
Then there was another kind of cholestorol
- Very Low Density
- Low Density
- High Density
One thing you can guess is that there is a whole spectrum of densities
of "cholesterol complexes" and the divisions are somewhat arbitrary in
the first place.

Then, you can guess..... There is more to "cholesterol" than DENSITY.

In the study cited below, the chemical composition of HDL (AKA "Good"
cholesterol) isn't the same between individuals with no Coronary Artery
Disease (CAD) and those with healthy hearts (Non-CAD).

So, even if we stick with "HDL", there is, chemically, no such substance
as "HDL CHOLESTEROL". To repeat, this study basically says, "There is
no single chemical entity called HDL - There is a spectrum of things
differing in chemical composition.

This is how I intrepret the truth of your remark. Maybe you mean
something differently.

More and more, I believe that the book "The Cholesterol Myth" is just
the opening of discovering that nutritionists, clinical doctors, and
even research physiologists may not have ever understood what
"Cholesterol" actually is, and isn't -- and what it does or doesn't do.
And why "cholesterol" does or doesn't do something.

Understanding that even with HDL, there is no single chemical
description of what is in different people's bodies - this leads one to
the natural understanding that half of the people who suffer heart
attacks do not have elevated cholesterol.

The word "cholesterol" is not enough in a broader sense than ever before
because not all HDL, for example, is chemically equivalent to all other HDL.


There apparently is no real single chemical thing called "cholesterol -
lipoprotein complex" just as there is no such thing as a single chemical
thing of "petroleum fuel" -- gasoline (of numerous kinds), kerosene,
naptha, diesel are all complex blends of all kinds of molecular
constituents.





On Sun, 04 Mar 2007 08:23:03 -0500, Jbuch wrote:

Succinct Summary:
----------------------------------------------------------------
It really isn't known why "Good Cholesterol" is good for us.

The present study has isolated and analysed "Good Cholesterol" from
healthy individuals and those suffering from Coronary Artery Disease
(CAD).

HDL from healthy individuals contained several proteins involved in
the innate immune response (including complement proteins), several
serine proteinase inhibitors, and many acute-phase inflammatory
proteins. By contrast, HDL from patients with CAD contained high
levels of the protein apoE, which is involved in lipoprotein transport.

"... further analysis of which might provide new understanding of the
mechanisms by which HDL provides protection from cardiovascular
disease ..."

So, it still isn't known what makes "Good Cholesterol" or HDL good,
but research is underway by studying the differences between healthy
and diseased people.
-----------------------------------------------------------------





Source: Journal of Clinical Investigation
Date: March 4, 2007
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0302131126.htm

What Makes Good Cholesterol So 'Good' For Us?

Science Daily — High levels of good cholesterol (high density
lipoprotein (HDL)) are associated with protection from cardiovascular
disease, which remains the leading cause of death in the United States.


In what study? There are many studies that disagree with this assertion.