Can super low cholesterol hurt you?
Safety and efficacy of very low LDL-cholesterol intensive lowering: a meta-analysis and meta-regression of randomized trials.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Very low LDL-C (<40 mg/dL) showed no increased risk of any of the 8 major non-cardiovascular safety outcomes studied.
Common medical wisdom warned that pushing LDL this low might trigger cancer, brain issues, or muscle damage—this study found zero evidence of that.
Practical Takeaways
If you're on high-intensity statins or PCSK9 inhibitors and your LDL is below 40 mg/dL, don't panic—this study suggests you're not at higher risk for cancer, stroke, or cognitive decline.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Very low LDL-C (<40 mg/dL) showed no increased risk of any of the 8 major non-cardiovascular safety outcomes studied.
Common medical wisdom warned that pushing LDL this low might trigger cancer, brain issues, or muscle damage—this study found zero evidence of that.
Practical Takeaways
If you're on high-intensity statins or PCSK9 inhibitors and your LDL is below 40 mg/dL, don't panic—this study suggests you're not at higher risk for cancer, stroke, or cognitive decline.
Publication
Journal
European heart journal. Cardiovascular pharmacotherapy
Year
2022
Authors
G. Patti, E. Spinoni, L. Grisafi, R. Mehran, M. Mennuni
Related Content
Claims (6)
Getting cholesterol extremely low doesn’t seem to make people more likely to get cancer, stroke, diabetes, liver problems, muscle issues, or cataracts — at least not in the time frame studied.
People who take strong cholesterol-lowering drugs to get their LDL very low don’t stop taking them more often because of side effects than those on regular doses.
When people lower their 'bad' cholesterol to very low levels using strong medications, they have fewer heart attacks and strokes than those with higher cholesterol levels.
Even when cholesterol is driven down to very low levels, it doesn’t raise the chance of bleeding in the brain — at least not in the first few years of treatment.
Taking strong cholesterol drugs to get LDL very low doesn’t make you more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than taking standard doses.