Cholesterol, statins and Alzheimer's

"Low LDL cholesterol levels due to PCSK9 and HMGCR variants had no causal effect on high risk of Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, any dementia, or Parkinson’s disease; however, low LDL cholesterol levels may have a causal effect in reducing the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.DL cholesterol levels due to PCSK9 and HMGCR variants had no causal effect on high risk of Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, any dementia, or Parkinson’s disease; however, low LDL cholesterol levels may have a causal effect in reducing the risk of Alzheimer’s disease."

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BUT.....

cholesterolandalzheimers

If you’ve been diagnosed with high cholesterol, it’s very likely your doctor prescribed a type of cholesterol-lowering drug called statins.

Statin drugs are the most commonly prescribed drugs in the world — and among the most profitable. (1)

One in two senior men and one in three senior women are taking these drugs. (2)

We are currently experiencing an epidemic of dementia with Alzheimer’s now being the sixth leading cause of death in the US. (3)

Is there a connection between taking statins and memory loss, or statins and dementia?

And will taking statins really protect you from heart disease?

Let’s examine the evidence.

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Recently, the research study Associations Between Serum Cholesterol Levels and Cerebral Amyloidosis, published in the journal JAMA Neurology, gained a lot of attention in the press. Somehow it was construed that the study had revealed a direct relationship between cholesterol levels and Alzheimer’s risk. Is that really what the research showed? Let’s take a look.

The study evaluated total cholesterol levels, level of HDL and LDL in a group of 74 elderly individuals. In addition, each of the subjects underwent a special type of brain scan to determine how much β-amyloid their brain contained. β-amyloid was studied because some researchers still believe that there is a relationship between β-amyloid levels and Alzheimer’s risk.

The marker for β-amyloid used in the study is something called PIB. Here is what the authors published:

Higher LDL-C and lower HDL-C levels were both associated with a higher PIB index. No association was found between the total cholesterol level and PIB index. No association was found between statin use and PIB index, and controlling for cholesterol treatment in the statistical models did not alter the basic findings.

Basically, there was a small, increased risk of having higher β-amyloid if the subjects had high LDL or low HDL with no correlation to cholesterol values or statin use.

Does this mean there is a definite connection of low HDL or high LDL to Alzheimer’s disease risk? The answer is clearly no.

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