Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Healthy lifestyle and cholesterol levels


A new study links cholesterol levels in young adults to changes in lifestyle between childhood and adulthood.

Previous research had looked at whether blood fat levels, such as cholesterol and triglyceride levels, remain steady from childhood to adulthood. Although previous studies found that youth levels correlate well with adult levels, they have shown that a substantial proportion of youth with high-risk levels will not have high-risk levels in adulthood and that a substantial proportion of adults with high-risk levels have normal levels as youth.

For the new research, researchers looked at the cholesterol and triglyceride levels in 539 Australian young adults both in childhood and as young adults: levels were measured in 1985 when the participants were 9, 12 or 15 years of age and again between 2004 and 2006, when they were in their 20s and 30s. High-risk levels were defined as a total cholesterol level of 240 milligrams per deciliter or higher, an LDL or "bad" cholesterol level of 160 milligrams per deciliter or higher, an HDL or "good" cholesterol level of less than 40 milligrams per deciliter or a triglyceride level of 200 milligrams per deciliter or higher. In addition, their height, weight, waist circumference, skin-fold thickness, smoking behaviors, cardiorespiratory fitness and socioeconomic factors were recorded at both time points.

It was found that substantial proportions of individuals with high-risk blood lipid and lipoprotein levels at baseline no longer had high-risk levels at follow-up. Those who continued to have high levels were more likely to have gained body fat and either started or continued to smoke. Those who went from low risk in childhood to high risk as adults were also more likely to have gained body fat, were less likely to improve their socioeconomic conditions and become less fit. When looking only at HDL or "good" cholesterol, it was found that participants who did not improve any lifestyle factors between youth and adulthood had more than double the prevalence of low HDL levels than the study average. Conversely, those who had improved at least two lifestyle factors had a prevalence of low HDL less than one-fourth that of the study average.

The above findings suggest that beneficial changes in modifiable risk factors (smoking and adiposity) in the time between youth and adulthood have the potential to shift those with high-risk blood lipid and lipoprotein levels in youth to low-risk levels in adulthood. The findings also emphasise that preventive programmes aimed at those who do not have high-risk blood lipid and lipoprotein levels in youth are equally important if the proportion of adults with high-risk levels is to be reduced.





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