Cholesterol: The Smart Factor

Individuals with high cholesterol receive higher marks on testsmeasuring mental ability. Researchers based this finding on themedical histories of 789 men and 1105 women over 18 years. Theinformation came from the Framingham Heart Study. During thestudy, the participants were administered tests to evaluate mentalskills such as memory, concentration, abstract reasoning, andorganization. Almost none of the participants were taking cholesterolmedications, and the researchers do not know whether individualswho take medication to lower their levels would have poorer skills.

The investigators found that individuals with total cholesterollevels that were borderline-high or >200 scored better. Theyvoiced concern, however, that individuals might ignore high cholesterolor stop taking their medication because of the results.(The findings were reported recently in Psychosomatic Medicine.)