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‘Healthy’ Cooking Oil Can Rocket Bad Cholesterol Levels and Dementia Risk

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With nearly half of all UK adults believed to be living with high cholesterol levels, health experts have warned that one ‘healthy’ oil could be causing more harm than good.

The condition has long been associated with heart and circulatory diseases, but recent research has suggested it can also rocket dementia risk by 30 percent. The updated Lancet Commission study on dementia prevention has identified high LDL cholesterol as a new risk factor for developing the neurodegenerative disease.

It also suggests that reducing this ‘bad’ cholesterol can help to delay or prevent the onset of dementia, as nearly 50 percent of cases across the world can be warded off, reports the Alzheimer’s Society. Increased exercise and healthier eating habits can help to lower cholesterol levels, but it can be difficult to know which silent killer foods to watch out for.

Nutritionist James Vickers, from Vitality, has branded coconut oil as the “worst” food for increasing cholesterol, despite its previous ‘healthy’ reputation. Existing research has hailed the oil as a good source of antioxidants, which provide anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic, and brain-protective effects, writes Healthline.

However, it contains more than 80 per cent saturated fat, which is known to raise cholesterol levels. LDL cholesterol ‘sticks’ to the blood vessel walls, causing obstructions, which increase the risk of strokes and heart attacks. (Read more from “‘Healthy’ Cooking Oil Can Rocket Bad Cholesterol Levels and Dementia Risk” HERE)

Study Finds New Way to Clear Cholesterol from Blood

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Scientists led by Prof David Ginsburg of the University of Michigan’s Howard Hughes Medical Institute inhibited the action of a gene responsible for transporting a protein that interferes with the ability of the liver to remove cholesterol from the blood in mice. Trapping the destructive protein where it couldn’t harm receptors responsible for removing cholesterol preserved the liver cells’ capacity to clear plasma cholesterol from the blood, but did not appear to otherwise affect the health of the mice.

In the research, scientists found that mice with an inactive SEC24A gene could develop normally. However, their plasma cholesterol levels were reduced by 45 percent because vesicles from liver cells were not able to recruit and transport a critical regulator of blood cholesterol levels called proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9).

PCSK9 is a secretory protein that destroys the liver cells’ receptors of low-density lipoprotein (LDL, the so-called ‘bad cholesterol), and prevents the cells from removing the LDL.

“Inhibiting SEC24A or PCSK9 may be an alternative to statins, and could work together with statins to produce even greater effects,” said first study author Dr Xiao-Wei Chen from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. “Also, they might be effective on patients who are resistant to or intolerant of statins.”

Initial studies of anti-PCSK9 therapies in humans have shown that eliminating PCSK9 can lower cholesterol dramatically and work with statins like Lipitor to lower it even further. The new study points to a new area for study: rather than inhibiting PCSK9 itself, perhaps future therapies could block the transport mechanism that allows the destructive protein to reach the LDL receptors.

Read more from this story HERE.