High Cholesterol … Stress to Blame?
Reported November 25, 2005
(Ivanhoe Newswire) — It’s no secret stress takes a toll on the body, but could it cause high cholesterol?
Yes, report British researchers who studied the link between stress and cholesterol levels in about 200 middle-aged men and women. All patients underwent standard tests to measure mental stress. Researchers also measured their cholesterol. A second cholesterol test was given three years later.
Results showed people who scored the highest on the stress tests experienced the greatest rise in cholesterol at the follow-up. Overall, they were three-times more likely to have clinically high cholesterol than those who scored the lowest on the stress tests. The finding held true even after researchers adjusted their results to take other factors influencing cholesterol levels into account. The stress-cholesterol link was seen equally in men and women.
The investigators aren’t sure how mental stress impacts cholesterol levels. They speculate stress may be promoting the production of more cholesterol, interfering with the clearance of cholesterol from the body, or increasing inflammatory processes, which in turn, increase the production of cholesterol.
Study author Andrew Steptoe, D.Sc., emphasizes the rise in cholesterol in response to stress is something to be concerned about. He also believes testing for the stress-cholesterol link could help doctors better identify people at greater risk for coronary heart disease.
SOURCE: Health Psychology, published online Nov. 22, 2005