Can ‘Good Cholesterol’ Prevent Alzheimer’s Disease?

Good cholesterol particles in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF — fluid surrounding the brain and spinal cord) may have a link with overall brain health as per a study at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, published in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia. So far, medical guidelines have implicated the influence of blood cholesterol levels only with the risk for heart diseases. However, the present study establishes a strong link between high-density lipoproteins (HDL) and Alzheimer’s disease.

Role of Good Cholesterol

It was found that a higher number of these good cholesterol particles in the CSF is associated with two key indicators that the particles might have a protective effect against Alzheimer’s disease.

One indicator is better cognitive performance and the other is higher circulating levels of a smaller protein — amyloid beta 42.

“This study represents the first time that small HDL particles in the brain have been counted. They may be involved with the clearance and excretion of the peptides that form the amyloid plaques we see in Alzheimer’s disease, so we speculate that there could be a role for these small HDL particles in prevention,” says Hussein Yassine, MD, an associate professor of medicine and neurology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC.

“People are realizing that there is more to late-onset Alzheimer’s disease. Perhaps it’s equally interesting to see how lipids are interacting with amyloid or how newer treatments can be focused not just on amyloid or tau, but also on fats and ApoE,” says Yassine.

Source-Medindia