Understanding cholesterol: high is bad but too low may also be risky -- is low cholesterol associated with cancer?

UNLABELLED: Cholesterol (CH) is a vital component of cell membranes and of their function. It is entirely justified to warn against haphazard aggressive CH lowering, especially now, when more effective CH-modifying medications are entering the market. Enormous success in lowering the human toll of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease (CVD) by treating abnormally elevated lipids may be off set by the therapeutic risk. There are warning reports that low cholesterol is associated with malignity. There is a pressing need to evaluate all reports related to the risk of low CH body stores. New cholesterol management guidelines presented by American professional cardiology societies in November 2013 have reinforced the need to critically evaluate the management with statins and with other CH lowering medications (Tab. 1, Fig. 3, Ref. 58).

KEYWORDS: total cholesterol (CH), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), cardiovascular disease (CVD), hydroxy-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase (HMGCR), randomized control trial (RCT), cancer, statin, low cholesterol risk, lipid treatment guideline.