Raising 'good' cholesterol levels reduces heart attack and stroke risk in diabetes patients

www.eurekalert.org

Public release date: 7-Oct-2011
Contact: Emily Schwartz
Kaiser Permanente
Raising 'good' cholesterol levels reduces heart attack and stroke risk in diabetes patients
Kaiser Permanente study also finds heart attack and stroke risk increase when 'good' cholesterol levels go down

Increasing levels of high-density lipoproteins, better known as HDL or "good" cholesterol, reduced the risk for heart attack and stroke among patients with diabetes. That's according to a new study appearing online today in The American Journal of Cardiology.

The observational study, one of the largest of its kind, examined the medical records of more than 30,000 patients with diabetes and also found that patients whose HDL levels decreased had more heart attacks and strokes.

[...]

People can raise their HDL levels without medication by keeping their weight down, changing their diet, avoiding tobacco smoke, and increasing exercise. Medical experts believe that HDL or "good" cholesterol carries the "bad" cholesterol away from the arteries and back to the liver where it is processed and passed from the body. According to the American Diabetes Association, a good target for women should be at least 50 mg/dl of HDL and for men at least 40 mg/dl. Levels of 60 mg/dl or higher are thought to protect against heart disease.

..