Examining the Relationship between Cholesterol and Cancer Does
HDL-C Have A Protective Role? By Genna Rollins An inverse
relationship between cholesterol levels and cancer mortality and
incidence has been noted in many studies. However, there has
been conflicting evidence and few large, long-term prospective
trials to clarify whether the association is causal or due to
reverse causality. Now, new research that addresses this
question has been published and is described in this issue of
Strategies. A series of studies dating back to the 1980s found
an association between low circulating levels of total
cholesterol and increased cancer incidence and mortality. This
inverse relationship largely had been attributed to reverse
causality, meaning that undiagnosed cancer triggered lower serum
cholesterol levels. However, there was conflicting evidence, so
researchers had not been able to entirely exclude the
possibility that low total cholesterol levels in some way led to
cancer. For instance, one study found an ass