Brain and Cholesterol

In the old days, high cholesterol was a very scary thing.  High cholesterol meant that your arteries had a very good chance of getting plugged up down the road.  With that, a heart attack or stroke was not far behind.  As scientists learned more about physiology and realized that half the people who died of heart disease had normal cholesterol, we learned that there's more to the story of heart disease than just cholesterol.

It's important not to throw our understanding of cholesterol completely out the window.  Does it play a major role in heart disease?  The safe answer is probably, "in some people 'yes'...but in others, 'not as much.' "  With that, a new study shows a direct link between the brain and cholesterol levels.  In fact, they authors quote,

"Our data suggest that a neural circuit in the brain is directly involved in the control of cholesterol metabolism by the liver."

To put it in perspective, a statement to the media said, "We have long thought that cholesterol is exclusively regulated through dietary absorption or synthesis and secretion by the liver.... our study shows for the first time that cholesterol is also under direct 'remote control' by specific neurocircuitry in the central nervous system." 

Pretty remarkable stuff; I think it's time that your cardiologist, nutritionist and neurologist (at the very least) get together to figure out the best way to keep you healthy.