People born with genes that naturally keep their bad cholesterol low have about half the risk of heart disease over their whole life, compared to others.

For people who’ve never had a heart attack or stroke, lowering 'bad' cholesterol helps less as they get older—but for those who’ve already had a heart problem, lowering cholesterol still works just as well no matter how old they are.

If different genes lower 'bad' cholesterol in different ways, they all reduce heart disease risk just as much for each point the cholesterol goes down—suggesting it's the cholesterol drop itself that protects the heart, not some side effect of the drugs.

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.

Lowering 'bad' cholesterol (LDL-C) keeps your heart healthier over the long term, and the more time passes, the same level of protection continues—no weakening.

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.