Black adults with a certain genetic mutation have much lower bad cholesterol and are way less likely to get heart disease over 15 years — this shows that keeping cholesterol low from an early age could really protect your heart, even if you're at higher risk.

People who naturally have a broken PCSK9 gene — which keeps their bad cholesterol low their whole life — are much less likely to get heart disease, and this seems to be true for people of many different backgrounds.

White adults with a certain gene variant have lower bad cholesterol and are nearly half as likely to get heart disease over 15 years — showing that even a small, lifelong drop in cholesterol can really protect your heart.

People with certain genetic changes that turn down a protein called PCSK9 tend to have lower 'bad' cholesterol their whole lives and are much less likely to get heart disease.

People born with a certain gene change that breaks the PCSK9 gene tend to have much lower 'bad' cholesterol their whole lives and are far less likely to get heart disease — so scientists think blocking this gene with medicine might help protect others' hearts too.

Some people of African descent have genetic changes in a gene called PCSK9 that seem to cut bad cholesterol levels by almost half—this might help explain why they have lower heart disease risk.