But they are STILL trying to give the credit to statins. I think it's us covert low carbers! Or maybe it's the doctors who are covert, cause I flat out tell mine I'm doing low carb..

http://www.wkyc.com/news/health/hea...x?storyid=62777

MIAMI, Fla. -- A study released Wednesday brings into sharper focus the healing power of "good" cholesterol.
Researchers report that they have linked an increased level of good cholesterol, or HDL, with a reduction in the amount of plaque clogging up patients' arteries.

The findings are likely to accelerate research into HDL, which until recently was largely overlooked in the push to develop drugs that can reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Even now, the National Cholesterol Education Program guidelines that doctors rely on to reduce heart disease risk focus less on raising HDL than on the crucial need to reduce amounts of LDL, the so-called bad cholesterol.

HEART HEALTH: Costly bypass medication may raise death risk later

"We've always assumed, 'It's the LDL, stupid,' " says study co-author Steven Nissen of the Cleveland Clinic. "But we've now learned that pushing up HDL confers a substantial proportion of the benefit."

LDL is bad because it ferries fats into the blood, where it can build up within artery walls.

HDL relieves artery inflammation and carries fats out of the bloodstream.

The focus began to shift to HDL in 2003.

Nissen and his colleagues reported then that an unusual type of good cholesterol, called apoA-1 Milano, first found in a 49-year-old Italian man, could reverse plaque buildup in patients' arteries.

Until then, only high-dose niacin was proven to raise HDL, but niacin can cause flushing and other side effects.

The apoA-1 Milano discovery fueled a race to discover new HDL-raising drugs. Pfizer alone poured more than $800 million into torceptrapib, which raised HDL by 60%. But the drug was shelved in December because of a higher-than-expected death rate among study participants.

More evidence of HDL's importance comes from Wednesday's analysis of nearly 1,500 patients in four studies of LDL-lowering statin drugs.

The research, which appears in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that patients' clogged arteries began to clear when statins drove their LDL levels down to 87.5 milligrams per deciliter of blood and their HDL up by 7.5%.

Researchers say the analysis is the first to show that the benefit of statins partly derives from their power to raise HDL.

"These drugs don't push HDL up very much, but whatever they're doing, it's important," Nissen says.

Michael Ozner, director of cardiovascular prevention at the Baptist Health System in Miami, says the study probably will prompt doctors to rethink how they treat heart disease.

"This is going to have a direct impact on patient management because not all statins have the same impact on (raising) HDL cholesterol. Some are more robust than others."

By Steve Sternberg, USA TODAY
© 2007

usatoday.com

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Wonder if he eats low carb?