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Serum Cholesterol and Cognitive Performance in the Framingham Heart Study

BY: PENELOPE K. ELIAS, PHD, MERRILL F. ELIAS, PHD, RALPH B. D’AGOSTINO, PHD, LISA M. SULLIVAN, PHD, AND
PHILIP A. WOLF, MD

Objective: The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between total cholesterol (TC) and cognitive performance within the context of the Framingham Heart Study, a large, community-based, prospective investigation of cardiovascular risk factors.

Methods:

Participants were 789 men and 1105 women from the Framingham Heart Study original cohort who were free of dementia and stroke and who received biennial TC determinations over a 16- to 18-year surveillance period. Cognitive tests were administered 4 to 6 years subsequent to the surveillance period and consisted of measures of learning, memory, attention/ concentration, abstract reasoning, concept formation, and organizational abilities. Statistical models were adjusted for multiple demographic and biological covariates.

Results: There was a significant positive linear association between TC and measures of verbal fluency, attention/concentration,
abstract reasoning, and a composite score measuring multiple cognitive domains. Performance levels for three clinically defined
groups were examined. Participants with “desirable” TC levels ( < 200 mg/dL) performed less well than participants with borderline-high
TC levels (200 –239 mg/dL) and participants with high TC levels (> 240 mg/dL).

Conclusions: Lower naturally occurring TC levels are associated with poorer performance on cognitive measures, which place high
demands on abstract reasoning, attention/concentration, word fluency, and executive functioning.

---------------- The following added by M. Carbone ------------------------

In Plain English:
(A) High natural cholesterol readings means the participants brains were functioning well.
(B) Low natural cholesterol readings means the participants brains were functioning poorly.

OR -- Cholesterol keeps your brain in good condition. It makes you smarter.

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