Study: "Good" Cholesterol May Be Linked to Alzheimer's

Patients with Alzheimer's disease may tend to have high levels of HDL cholesterol in their blood, according to researchers at the National Institute of Aging in Bethesda, Maryland.

Researchers have speculated that cholesterol in the brain may be linked to the processing of the amyloid protein that gets deposited in the brain and leads to plaques in Alzheimer's patients.

Investigators studied data from 218 Japanese-American men from the Honolulu-Asia Aging Study who were followed since 1965 and autopsied after they died, according to the report published in the journal Neurology.

Men with higher levels of "good" cholesterol, or high-density lipoprotein (HDL), had more plaques and tangles in their brain, reported the researchers.

Researchers were surprised at the findings, as HDL is considered to be beneficial and higher levels of HDL can reduce the risks of heart disease. HDL can be considered a peripheral marker for Alzheimer's disease, claim the researchers.

Other sources: Neurology