A study suggests adult cholesterol levels are dropping naturally as discussed in the NY Times. Cholesterol, as it is suggested by most news sites and doctors offices is responsible for arterial plaques that lead to heart attacks and strokes. While many of us have different genetic constitutions which is why people with high cholesterol can live into their 80’s and 90’s without ever having a problem while others live shorter lives, apparently a natural cure is lowering cholesterol in adults without the use of harmful statin drugs. While the benefits of statins vs. the problems created by them are not clear, apparently, by lowering the number of trans fats, a bandwagon many fast foods and prepared food companies have joined has begun to lower cholesterol naturally. One of the big problems with the American diet of overeating and the wrong kinds of foods has been effectively addressed by government and other concerns and look at the result; potentially healthier Americans. While cholesterol is but one of the 18 risk factors for heart attack, it is nice to know that eating better and healthier can over time reduce the risk of heart attack, without statins and their side effects. Perhaps American policy on food in schools and in processed and fast foods is helping us head in the right direction which can eventually result in lower overall health care costs. Read the article here… Cholesterol Is Falling in Adults, Study Finds By ANAHAD O’CONNOR Cholesterol levels in adults are falling, and changes in the amount of trans fats in the American diet may be part of the reason, new research suggests.The findings, published Tuesday in The Journal of the American Medical Association, were celebrated as something of a triumph by health authorities, who said the data showed that the nation had reached its 2010 goal of getting the average total cholesterol level in adults below 200 milligrams per deciliter. Researchers examined a nationally representative sample of tens of thousands of Americans over the last two decades and recorded a decline of 10 points in average total cholesterol — to 196 mg/dL from 206 mg/dL. While the so-called bad cholesterol decreased, there was a slight uptick in HDL cholesterol, higher levels of which are associated with a reduced risk of heart disease. Triglycerides, which are also linked to heart disease, initially rose 5 points to 123 mg/dL from 1994 to 2002, then dropped to 110 mg/dL by the end of 2010. The study’s authors said they were buoyed by their observations, but could not provide a solid explanation for them. The popularity of cholesterol-lowering drugs like statins was only part of the explanation, they said. Their use more than quadrupled among adults during the study period, to 15.5 percent from 3.4 percent. As many as 35 percent of men and women over 50 took them, the study found. But the same improvements in cholesterol profiles were also seen in adults who were not taking them, said Margaret D. Carroll, the study’s lead author and a statistician with the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. read more