The raison d'etre of this website is to provide you with hard scientific information which may help you make informed decisions in your quest for health (so far I have blogged concise summaries of over 1,500 scientific studies and have had three books published).

My research is mainly focused on the effects of cholesterol, saturated fat and statin drugs on health. If you know anyone who is worried about their cholesterol levels and heart disease, or has been told to take statin drugs you could send them a link to this website, and to my statin or cholesterol or heart disease books.

David Evans

Independent Health Researcher

Monday 1 February 2016

Doctor concludes LDL cholesterol may be required to maintain or support memory function

This study was published in the Journal of Alzheimers Disease 2013;34(1):273-9

Study title and authors:
Very old adults with better memory function have higher low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels and lower triglyceride to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratios: KOCOA Project.
Katsumata Y, Todoriki H, Higashiuesato Y, Yasura S, Ohya Y, Willcox DC, Dodge HH.
Department of Neurology, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR 97239, USA. katsumat@ohsu.edu

This paper can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23207484

This study investigated the association between cholesterol levels and memory function. The study included 193 participants, aged 80 and older.

Regarding LDL cholesterol levels, the study found those with better memory function had significantly higher LDL cholesterol levels.

Dr Katsumata concluded: "LDL cholesterol, especially large, buoyant LDL may be required to maintain or support memory function among older people."

Links to other studies:
High cholesterol levels boost memory function
Low cholesterol levels associated with slow mental processing in students
High cholesterol levels are associated with higher intelligence