HEALTH REPORT - June 5, 2002: Increasing Good Cholesterol

By Nancy Steinbach
This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

A medical study in the Netherlands shows that a new substance can increase the level of good cholesterol in the
blood. Doctors say this could protect people against heart attacks. Many people are taking drugs now to lower
bad cholesterol. Yet some research suggests that the level of good cholesterol is more important than the level of
bad cholesterol.

The fatty substance known as cholesterol is important for human life. The body needs it to create cells and
hormones, and to operate the nervous system. All the cholesterol a person needs is produced naturally in the liver.
This cholesterol is sent into the blood so that cells can get some when they need it. Low density lipoproteins, or
LDL, transport cholesterol into the blood. LDL in the blood that has not been used by the cells is called bad
cholesterol.

High density lipoproteins are known as HDL. HDL are considered good because they gather up the cholesterol
not used by the cells and move it back to the liver to be destroyed. If LDL levels are too high, there is more
cholesterol in the blood than the HDL can remove. The extra cholesterol attaches to the inside of the arteries. It
can block blood flow and cause heart attack or stroke.

If HDL levels are high, the HDL is moving the unneeded cholesterol out of the
blood, back to the liver. This prevents the cholesterol from attaching to the arteries.
As a result, medical researchers are looking for ways to increase the HDL, or good
cholesterol.

The drug involved in the new test was developed in Japan. It is called a C-E-T-P
inhibitor. It blocks the action of a protein that lowers the amount of HDL in the
body. Researchers in the Netherlands tested it on one-hundred-ninety-eight people.
They found that it increased the good HDL cholesterol by as much as thirty -four
percent. CETP also lowered the bad LDL cholesterol in some people by seven
percent. The results were reported in the magazine, Circulation.

John Kastelein of the University of Amsterdam wrote the report. He said it is the first published study showing
good results in people from a drug that increases HDL cholesterol. More studies must be done to show if the drug
really decreases the chance of heart disease.

This VOA Special English Health Report was written by Nancy Steinbach.

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