By Martine Berger
CSMS Magazine
As shocking as it might seem, women have been brainwashed about cholesterol. Most of the studies linking heart disease to high cholesterol have been done to men only. And we know women and men have physiological differences than appearances alone disclose. It’s true that numerous studies have shown that men who die of heart disease frequently have high cholesterol. But men with high cholesterol don’t always get heart disease. Cholesterol is one of many risk factors.
So, what about women and cholesterol? We know very little, since few studies, until recently, have been conducted on women. However, a recent survey complied seven large studies on cholesterol and heart disease and looked at facts and figures, separating them by gender. The findings indicated that high cholesterol was most definitely a significant risk for men … but not for women.
In spite of these findings, a large number of women with high cholesterol are being given cholesterol-lowering drugs that might not need. As a result, many women suffer serious side effects from these drugs—which shouldn’t have been prescribed in the first place.
