People born with a certain gene change that lowers their bad cholesterol over their whole life might have a lower chance of getting dementia, and this could be because of better blood vessel health in the brain.

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.

In White people, having genes that naturally lower PCSK9 are linked to a lower chance of developing leg circulation problems, possibly because of how these genes affect cholesterol.

People born with a certain genetic quirk that lowers their bad cholesterol over their whole life seem to have a lower chance of developing a dangerous belly blood vessel problem called an abdominal aortic aneurysm.

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.

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.