Can having too little bad cholesterol be dangerous?
Can LDL cholesterol be too low? Possible risks of extremely low levels
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Doctors can now lower bad cholesterol (LDL) to very low levels with medicine. This review asks if that’s safe. It looks at how the body handles cholesterol and finds that even when LDL is very low, the body still makes what it needs for important jobs.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
Max 51 / 5
Evidence Score
Based on clinical experience or non-systematic literature reviews. The lowest level of evidence as they are most susceptible to bias and personal perspective.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Doctors can now lower bad cholesterol (LDL) to very low levels with medicine. This review asks if that’s safe. It looks at how the body handles cholesterol and finds that even when LDL is very low, the body still makes what it needs for important jobs.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
Max 51 / 5
Evidence Score
Based on clinical experience or non-systematic literature reviews. The lowest level of evidence as they are most susceptible to bias and personal perspective.
Publication
Authors
Olsson AG, Angelin B, Assmann G, Binder CJ, Björkhem I, Cedazo-Minguez A, Cohen J, von Eckardstein A, Farinaro E, Müller-Wieland D, Parhofer KG, Parini P, Rosenson RS, Starup-Linde J, Tikkanen MJ, Yvan-Charvet L
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Claims (5)
Even if medicine lowers your 'bad' cholesterol to super low levels—like what you see in babies or animals—your body can still make the hormones and digestive juices it needs.
Low LDL cholesterol probably isn't causing illnesses like cancer or depression — it's more likely that these diseases are lowering cholesterol as a side effect.
Taking statins might raise your chances of getting type 2 diabetes, and it's the medicine itself — not lower cholesterol — that's likely to blame.
We can now lower bad cholesterol to super low levels with treatment — even lower than what babies or some animals have — but we're not sure if that's totally safe over the long term.
Can someone be perfectly healthy even if their 'bad' cholesterol is super low—like 14 mg/dL?