The Unknown Dangers of Low Cholesterol

While high cholesterol gets plenty of media attention, many people are not aware of the dangers of low cholesterol. Here is a look at some of these often unknown dangers that low cholesterol can cause.

There are plenty of reasons for having abnormally low cholesterol. Most commonly, it is a side effect of another health condition. Extremely low cholesterol has been linked to hyperthyroidism, liver disease, malabsorption, malnutrition, and difficulties with the intestines that prevent the absorption of nutrients.

Hypocholestolemia is the term for the condition of having abnormally low cholesterol levels. Besides the conditions mentioned above, newer studies are also linking the problem to tuberculosis. An ongoing study is trying to find a way to use cholesterol to prevent and treat tuberculosis patients.

Another study suggests that low total cholesterol could put men at risk for having depression. Some Dutch scientists realized that some men that had lower than normal cholesterol levels also showed depression symptoms like anger and hostility, unlike men who had normal levels of cholesterol. However, the link between the two is not yet clear.

Other studies have shown that those patient that had very low cholesterol levels also were more susceptible to anxiety, hemorrhagic stroke, and suicide. Hemorrhagic stroke was of a particular concern for patients with a total cholesterol level of 180 mg/DL. These patients were twice as likely to develop a hemorrhagic stroke as patients who had total cholesterol levels of 230 mg/DL.

Serotonin is a substance in the body that helps a person regulate their mood. Low serotonin levels have been linked to depression. In men that have low cholesterol levels, a lower level of serotonin was also noticed.

The issue is that there is not just one kind of cholesterol. The one that gets the most attention is LDL cholesterol, known as “bad” cholesterol. This is the cholesterol that is responsible for lining the arteries and contributing to the risk of heart disease. However, this is not the only form of cholesterol that is measured in total cholesterol. The other half of the equation is HDL cholesterol. HDL cholesterol is the “good” cholesterol that removes cholesterol from your heart and transports it to the liver where it can be processed and eliminated.

The bottom line is that lowering your cholesterol is not just about getting the total number to go down. Getting your total cholesterol too low can actually put you at risk for other problems, since often it is not just the “bad” cholesterol that is reduced – it is the good cholesterol as well.

In order to make sure that you have a healthy balance, you will need to have your doctor check both levels. In some cases, a medication may be needed to lower the bad cholesterol and raise the good cholesterol. In other cases, simple changes in diet and lifestyle may be all that is needed to put everything back in balance. If under medical care your cholesterol level is still not adjusting to where it needs to be, you may want to talk to your doctor about evaluating your risks of other diseases to find out if there is another underlying problem.

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