Low and lowered cholesterol and total mortality.

he paper by Strandberg et al. (1) in this issue of the Journal onfirms that in relatively young, healthy men from higher ocioeconomic strata, a (naturally) low total cholesterol TC) is associated with increased longevity (2); on average, uch men will have lower levels of low-density lipoprotein LDL) cholesterol. Thus, if you are fortunate to have a low C as a young man, typically a product of a lot of nature and little nurture, you can expect to do a little better than your eers not so favored. Can one extrapolate these mortality benefits of naturally ow TC in advantaged middle-aged men to middle-aged en of lower socioeconomic status (SES)? Can they be xtrapolated to the very low end of the lipid range, or to TC owered by treatment, or to women or to elderly persons? In ach case, the available evidence suggests perhaps not.