High cholesterol causes millions of deaths worldwide
More than one in four Italians suffers from high cholesterol, a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, which are among the leading causes of death in Western countries.
Daily lifestyle changes contribute to lowering cholesterol levels: adopting a healthy lifestyle, regular exercise, and following a balanced diet. Scientific evidence now also supports the importance of weight loss, CE Report quotes ATA.
This is confirmed by a study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, in which researchers from the Mayo Clinic in the United States reported that for every kilogram lost, cholesterol levels decrease by 1.28 mg/dL.
“A global study conducted by Italian researchers and published in Nature Reviews Cardiology found that high cholesterol led to disability in over 98 million individuals and caused 4.4 million deaths, resulting in a significant health burden,” emphasizes Pasquale Perrone Filardi, president of the Italian Society of Cardiology.
The research, published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, assessed the relationship between weight loss and changes in lipid profiles—total cholesterol, LDL, HDL, and triglycerides—in overweight or obese adults.
The authors analyzed 73 clinical studies involving a total of 32,496 participants, with an average age of 48 years and an average weight of 101.6 kg.
The results showed a proportional relationship between weight loss and improvement in the lipid profile.
Specifically, after 12 months of lifestyle interventions, each kilogram lost was associated with an average decrease of 4 mg/dL in triglycerides, 1.28 mg/dL in LDL cholesterol, and an increase of 0.46 mg/dL in HDL cholesterol, the “good” cholesterol.
New guidelines for the management and treatment of dyslipidemia have also been published, produced through the joint efforts of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and the European Atherosclerosis Society (EAS).
Total cholesterol is no longer considered a useful parameter; instead, “bad” cholesterol and Lipoprotein(a)—a specific type of lipid particle similar to LDL cholesterol but much more dangerous, also called “super bad” cholesterol—are now emphasized.
