Reading many reports about diet and health can easily lead you to conclude that nothing is safe. It seems that you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t. Cholesterol seems to be a prime example.
It takes no rocket scientist to know that a cholesterol count of 240 units or more is definitely bad news. Most people know that a low level of this fatty alcohol substance — less than 160 units — substantially lowers the risk of heart disease.
According to a recent edition of Science Times, however, people with low cholesterol counts are far more likely to commit suicide or homicide, to die from strokes, certain cancers and liver and lung disease. A cardiologist at Baylor University’s College of Medicine in Houston, Dr. Antonio Gotto, explains the the correlation does not necessary mean causation. Take alcoholism, for example.
According to Gotto, alcoholics are apt to have very low cholesterol levels, which is not at all surprising, given the average alcoholic’s diet. In other words, the alcoholism is probably responsible for the low cholesterol. And, alcoholics surely have a higher than average association with homicide and suicide.
More studies are surely warranted.
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