We all know that it’s important to control your cholesterol, but the focus tends to be on the so-called “bad cholesterol” or LDL cholesterol. For most folks, their “good cholesterol” or HDL cholesterol, isn’t part of the equation — but a new study suggests that’s not exactly right. The study, which was conducted by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, looked at the HDL cholesterol in 503 middle-aged women.
The data found that having larger HDL particles is linked to an increased likelihood of Alzheimer’s disease . HDL cholesterol is grouped into three sizes: small, medium and large, study author Dr. Samar R.
El Khoudary told HuffPost via email. “Smaller particle size during midlife was associated with better cognition level,” El Khoudary said. Researchers found that after menopause , large HDL particles tend to increase in a woman’s body.
These larger HDL particles are not protective against Alzheimer’s disease like their smaller HDL particle counterparts. “We were able to show that as early as midlife, women who have more of the smaller-sized particles ..
. over the menopause transition are more likely to experience better episodic memory later in life,” El Khoudary said in a press release . To reach their conclusion, researchers examined volunteers over the course of 16 years, and assessed the cognitive function of study participants and compared that to their HDL part.