High Cholesterol - Familial Homozygous Blog

Global Efforts to Lower 'Bad' Cholesterol Working

Posted 3+ months ago by Drugs.com

MONDAY, June 22 – People in the United States and around the world who are trying to lower their "bad" cholesterol have been succeeding more often in the past decade, new research suggests.

The look at almost 10,000 patients from nine countries found that, overall, 73 percent had reached their target level of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) – nearly double the number since the survey was first conducted in 1996-1997. Three-quarters of those surveyed were on a statin drug to lower cholesterol (for an average duration of about two years), while others either used different medications or made only lifestyle changes, such as improved exercise and nutrition regimens, to try to bring down their LDL levels, the researchers found. Read more...

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Health Tip: What's Behind High Cholesterol?

Posted 3+ months ago by Drugs.com

-- High cholesterol is a major risk factor for heart disease. If your numbers are rising, there are a few possible reasons.

The U.S. National Heart Lung and Blood Institute lists these factors that can affect blood cholesterol: Read more...

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Lowest Blood Pressure, Cholesterol Levels the Best

Posted 3+ months ago by Drugs.com

MONDAY, March 23 – The tightest control of the major risk factors for heart disease seems to provide the greatest protection against cardiovascular trouble, a new study shows.

And so the current guidelines for risk factors such as blood pressure and LDL cholesterol might need to be tightened even further, said Dr. Stephen J. Nicholls, an assistant professor of molecular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic, and author of the report, which appears in the March 31 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

"It is clear that each benefit we have in terms of lowering LDL cholesterol and blood pressure is going to be important, and the lower you get those measurements, the better," Nicholls said. Read more...

Related support groups: High Cholesterol, High Blood Pressure, Hyperlipoproteinemia Type IIa (Elevated LDL), High Cholesterol - Familial Homozygous, Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease, High Cholesterol - Familial Heterozygous, Fredrickson Type IIb Hyperlipoproteinemia

FDA Medwatch Alert: Cholestrix

Posted 3+ months ago by Drugs.com

[Posted August 09, 2007] FDA warns consumers and healthcare professionals to avoid using Red Yeast Rice and Red Yeast Rice/Policosonal Complex, sold by Swanson Healthcare Products, Inc. and manufactured by Nature’s Value Inc. and Kabco Inc., respectively; and Cholestrix, sold by Sunburst Biorganics because the products may contain an unauthorized drug that could be harmful to their health. The products, promoted and sold over the internet as treatments for high cholesterol, contain lovastatin, the active pharmaceutical ingredient in Mevacor, a prescription drug approved for high cholesterol.

Lovastatin can cause severe muscle problems leading to kidney impairment. The risk is greater in patients who take higher doses of lovastatin or who take lovastatin and other medicines that i Read more...

Related support groups: High Cholesterol, High Cholesterol - Familial Homozygous, High Cholesterol - Familial Heterozygous