KNOW YOUR CHOLESTEROL, EXPERTS WARN

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, February 29, 1992                   TAG: 9202290126
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Cox News Service
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium
KNOW YOUR CHOLESTEROL, EXPERTS WARN
People who feel secure in the knowledge that their overall cholesterol levels are low may be developing heart disease without knowing it because their "good" cholesterol is also low, a government scientific panel warned Friday.
Conversely, people with relatively high total cholesterol counts may not be in as great a risk of heart trouble as they think if their high-density lipoprotein, or HDL, levels also are high, the panel said.
The scientists said routine cholesterol screenings should measure not only total cholesterol, but also HDL cholesterol.
HDL is thought to prevent or even reverse the buildup of fatty deposits in arteries from other forms of cholesterol. Coronary heart disease develops when accumulated deposits constrict the arteries, making it hard for oxygen-rich blood and nutrients to reach the heart.
Thus, a total cholesterol count of 200 and an HDL count of 35 may mean that not enough of the good cholesterol is circulating through the blood to offset the effects of low-density lipoprotein, or LDL, cholesterol, the scientists said.
They said studies indicate 5 to 10 percent of the people with seemingly acceptable overall cholesterol levels also have unacceptable HDL levels.
"People who have a total cholesterol count of 150 may not have to be concerned about having low HDL, and people with counts of 280 to 300 may take little comfort about high HDL," said Dr. Elliot Rapaport of the University of California, San Francisco, who chaired two days of deliberation by the panel. "It's the wide range in between that we're concerned about."
The panel also recommended that cholesterol screening be done in a doctor's office or laboratory and that little reliance be placed in less-reliable "shopping center needle-stick tests."
Dietary changes that reduce overall cholesterol tend to also reduce the good HDL cholesterol, the panel said. Exercise tends to elevate HDL levels.
The panel concluded that scientific evidence linking high levels of triglyceride, a fatty substance that stores energy in the blood, to the risk of coronary heart disease is inconsistent. However, a high triglyceride count may be a signal of other problems, they said.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB