Need I remind you: there is two types of cholesterol. HDL, also called “good cholesterol” which protects the heart and LDL, called “bad cholesterol” which is deposited on the walls of blood vessels to form plaques of atheroma, which creates a risk of cardiovascular disease.
When the level of bad cholesterol is high, it increases the stroke risk, heart attack or atherosclerosis. But a new study, published by the American heart association in his journal Circulationshows that LDL fluctuations also lead to deterioration of cognitive functions.
An impact on seniors aged 70 to 82
For this study, researchers from the University of Leiden, in the Netherlands, followed more than 4,400 people aged 70 to 82 who participated in an impact study of pravastatin (a drug of the statin family which lowers cholesterol levels in the blood). All had a high risk or history of cardiovascular disease. The researchers looked at the variability of their bad cholesterol levels and gave them various cognitive tests (for example reading a word of one color but written in a different color such as the word red written in green) as well as tests of verbal memory.
Once the results were analyzed, the researchers observed that patients with the highest LDL levels took an average of 2.7 seconds longer to complete the tests than patients with the lowest bad cholesterol levels. . “Although it seems a small difference, it shows that there is an impact on cognitive functions” explains Dr. Roelof Smit, lead author of the study.
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