Cholesterol News and Research

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Cholesterol is a waxy, fat-like substance made in the liver, and found in the blood and in all cells of the body. Cholesterol is important for good health and is needed for making cell walls, tissues, hormones, vitamin D, and bile acid.

Mount Sinai researchers discover how Alzheimer's gene damages blood vessels

Mount Sinai researchers have identified how APOE4, the strongest genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease, damages the brain's blood vessels and promotes the buildup of abnormal proteins linked to neurodegenerative disease.

24 Sep 2026

Advances in chemistry and delivery are taking oligonucleotide medicines beyond rare diseases

A review in Cell Reports Medicine examines how advances in oligonucleotide chemistry and delivery have established ASOs and RNA interference therapies as a class of genetic medicines, with 21 oligonucleotides approved at the time of writing. It also identifies extrahepatic delivery, safety, target validation, individualized treatment, and data quality as priorities as the field expands into common diseases and explores AI-assisted development.

24 Sep 2026

Semaglutide’s heart benefits may extend beyond weight loss

Semaglutide is known to reduce the risk of serious heart disease. However, a new study published in the European Heart Journal today (Thursday) suggests that this effect cannot not be entirely explained by patients losing weight on the drug.

23 Sep 2026

A chemical used in BPA-free products may have a connection to diabetes control

In adults with type 2 diabetes receiving oral glucose-lowering therapy, higher plasma BPS concentrations were associated with higher HbA1c after accounting for demographic factors, medication adherence, and diet, whereas BPA was not associated with HbA1c. The BPS association was modest and no longer statistically significant after further adjustment for BPA, BMI, and physical fitness, supporting the need for larger studies to determine whether reducing exposure could improve glycemic control.

23 Sep 2026

Cutting ultra-processed foods may improve symptoms of depression

A preliminary study led by UC San Francisco adds to growing evidence that reducing ultra-processed food may improve symptoms of depression.

23 Sep 2026

Childhood trauma linked to risky health behaviors in late adolescence

Experiencing childhood trauma appears to increase a young person's likelihood of smoking, substance use and developing unhealthy eating habits by contributing to behavioral problems during adolescence, such as impulsivity and poor self-control.

22 Sep 2026

Children who ate healthier plant foods had slightly lower blood pressure later

Researchers followed 3,990 Dutch children for an average of 1.6 years and found that higher healthful plant-based diet scores were associated with modestly lower blood pressure and total cholesterol. Children with higher unhealthful plant-based diet scores had lower estimated food costs and distinct metabolite profiles, while healthful scores showed no clear cost association.

22 Sep 2026

Regular exercisers show distinct metabolic and immune signatures in blood

Researchers compared blood samples from 40 regular exercisers and 46 sedentary adults and found differences in metabolites, blood chemistry, and immune cell gene activity. The patterns suggested greater fatty acid use and altered immune signaling among exercisers, but the study could not establish that exercise caused these differences.

21 Sep 2026

Several cups of coffee a day showed no clear diabetes link over 10 years

Researchers followed 1,158 adults in Italy for 10 years, comparing those who drank at least two to three cups of coffee daily with those who drank none. They found no statistically significant difference in new cases of impaired fasting glucose or type 2 diabetes, but the small non-consumer group limits how confidently the study can rule out a difference in risk.

21 Sep 2026

Maldives meets UN target for reducing premature chronic disease deaths

The Maldives has become the only country in the World Health Organization's South East Asia region to meet the UN target for reducing premature deaths from non-communicable diseases (NCDs), such as cardiovascular and chronic respiratory diseases, cancers and diabetes.

21 Sep 2026

More physical activity linked to lower type 2 diabetes risk in adults

CGM reveals glucose patterns linked to cardiometabolic risk in adults without diabetes

Fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) are the clinical gold standards for screening for blood sugar levels yet they provide only static snapshots that fail to reflect the highly dynamic and heterogeneous nature of metabolic impairment.

17 Sep 2026

Military blast exposure associated with long-term health conditions

Exposure to high-level blasts from incoming explosive devices or land mines among military veterans is associated with an increased risk of several conditions such as seizures, neuropathy and stroke years later, according to a study published September 16, 2026, in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

16 Sep 2026

Fermented dairy was linked to lower mortality, but the pattern shifted at higher intakes

Analysis of 37,366 US adults found that fermented dairy consumption was associated with lower all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, with consumers showing adjusted hazards 18% and 20% lower, respectively, than non-consumers. Dose-response analyses indicated that the inverse association was concentrated at intakes below about 150 grams per day, while the observational study could not establish causality.

16 Sep 2026

Scientists tested how much whole grain makes a difference. The answer was not simply “more”

A meta-analysis of 87 randomized trials found that increasing whole-grain intake was associated with improvements in several cardiometabolic risk factors, although many individual changes were small or clinically unimportant. Dose-response analyses suggested that the magnitude of the effects varied by outcome and intake level, with limited evidence at very high intakes.

16 Sep 2026

Eating four to six wholegrain servings daily protects heart health

Eating four to six servings of wholegrain each day reduces several major risk factors for cardiovascular disease, according to a new study published in the European Heart Journal today (Wednesday).

16 Sep 2026

Could a daily glass of orange juice support heart health? Study finds citrus compounds influence genes linked to blood vessel function

Naturally occurring compounds in orange juice regulated genes involved in the control of cardiovascular and blood vessel function, according to a new clinical trial.

16 Sep 2026

Your voice could add something aging blood tests and scans miss

Researchers found that a standardized 30-second voice recording could predict chronological age with mean absolute errors of 3.95 years in females and 4.41 years in males. The resulting Voice Age measure also captured physiological information partly distinct from molecular, imaging, sleep, and lifestyle-based aging clocks, supporting its potential as a functional aging biomarker.

15 Sep 2026

An 8-hour eating window stood out for weight loss, but the full picture is more complicated

A pooled analysis of individual data from five time-restricted eating trials involving 124 adults linked shorter eating windows with modestly greater weight loss. Eight-hour TRE was associated with greater weight loss than 12-hour TRE and controls, while cardiometabolic outcomes showed no consistent relationship with eating-window duration and several weight associations weakened after adjustment.

14 Sep 2026

More data, more answers? A 1.9 million-person health study shows why scale has limits

Researchers analyzed phenotypic and linked health-record data from more than 1.9 million adults in Our Future Health, comparing demographic characteristics, disease patterns, clinical associations, and rare-condition case counts with national data and other major cohorts. The cohort's size provides unusually large samples for many common and less common conditions, although its demographic composition and current data sources require careful consideration when interpreting population-level estimates.

14 Sep 2026