Lower Cholesterol: Can Your Low Cholesterol Level Be Bad?
Julia Carmichael
We know how importance lower cholesterol levels are. It can
decrease our risk for heart disease, stroke and heart attack.
But can our cholesterol levels be too low? Since our bodies
make cholesterol it makes sense our body needs this chemical,
but what happens if the body doesn't have the cholesterol it
needs?
First, abnormally low cholesterol levels have been linked with
anxiety, depression, suicide, and violent behavior. An article
published in the periodical Psychosomatic Medicine in May of
1999 makes a startling revelation.
Total Cholesterol Levels
It refers to a study of healthy young women with total
cholesterol levels below 160 mg/dl. It reports these women were
more likely to make high scores on tests used to measure levels
of depression and anxiety than those with normal cholesterol
levels.
Medical data has also shown men with low cholesterol levels are
50-80 percent more likely to be the victim of a homicide,
suicide or fatal accident than those with normal cholesterol
levels.
Link
Researchers suspect there may be a link between low cholesterol
levels and low serotonin level. Serotonin is a "feel good"
chemical found in the brain. People with low levels of
serotonin are those who have problems with depression and
anxiety. So, these lower cholesterol levels can cause
depression.
Other studies into the effects of abnormally low cholesterol
also show there may be some link between low blood cholesterol
and cancer. Researchers are finding the lower the blood
cholesterol level the higher the risk for cancer. Seemingly,
the lower cholesterol levels may also increase your risk for
cancer.
Increase Risk
Perhaps the most surprising result of all is that having
abnormally low cholesterol can increase your risk for a stroke.
While it is generally reported to be the other way around, there
are studies that show abnormally low levels of cholesterol can
cause more strokes than high cholesterol.
According to information in an article entitled The Cholesterol
Myth posted on the website Second Opinions states studies of the
Japanese people have backed up the fact lower cholesterol
than normal may cause more strokes.
The Japanese were an ideal people for the stroke study because
they have had a rapid change over the past couple of decades in
their eating habits. They have evolved from eating a low
cholesterol diet high in rice and vegetables to eating more
high fat foods. While it seems the Japanese who ate a higher
fat diet would be more likely to have strokes, the number of
strokes has decreased among the Japanese as their dietary fat
increased.
Further Research
Further studies have shown there are two different types of
strokes, those caused from clots and those caused from
hemorrhaging. While high cholesterol does increase your risk of
clot type strokes, research shows chances for a hemorrhagic
stroke is increased by an abnormally low cholesterol level.
As you can see, while it is dangerous for your cholesterol to
be too high, it is also dangerous for your levels to be too
low. Research has shown that abnormally low cholesterol may be
linked to depression and anxiety as well as an increase in
strokes. Lower cholesterol may not necessarily be better.
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