[ti:Rethinking 'Good' Cholesterol; PSA Test Debate] [ar:Steve Ember] [al:Health Report] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]This is the VOA Special English Health Report. [00:04.60]A study has raised questions [00:06.94]about a widely held belief involving cholesterol. [00:12.12]The belief is that high levels of so-called [00:15.43]good cholesterol in the blood [00:17.95]can reduce the risk of a heart attack. [00:21.36]The medical name for "good" cholesterol [00:24.78]is high-density lipoprotein, or HDL. [00:29.08]Doctors commonly believe it reduces [00:32.07]the risk of heart attack by removing fatty deposits [00:36.83]that can block the flow of blood [00:39.55]in the arteries of the heart. [00:42.16]But Dr. Sekar Kathiresan [00:44.60]at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston says [00:48.79]the effects of high HDL have never been proven. [00:53.90]He says the new study that he and other researchers [00:58.24]did suggests that HDL cholesterol [01:02.83]does not affect the risk of heart attack. [01:06.05]SEKAR KATHIRESAN: "This has been the major assumption [01:07.90]over the last thirty years, that if you raise HDL cholesterol, [01:11.79]the risk for heart disease will be lowered. [01:13.35]And I think we have now broken that assumption, [01:19.01]broken that link using this gene variant." [01:21.83]The researchers say about four percent of people [01:25.64]have a genetic change [01:27.65]that gives them a naturally high level of HDL. [01:32.11]The study found that those who were genetically "programmed" [01:36.86]to have higher HDL levels were just as likely [01:41.42]to suffer heart attacks as those who were not. [01:45.37]A second analysis looked at fourteen gene variants [01:50.85]that increase good cholesterol. [01:54.07]Dr. Kathiresan says people with the most variants [01:58.41]had no more protection against heart attacks than anyone else. [02:03.28]But he says there is no dispute [02:07.63]about low-density lipoprotein, or LDL. LDL, [02:13.07]the so-called bad cholesterol, [02:17.02]causes a buildup of fatty substances inside arteries [02:21.73]and increases the risk of heart attack. [02:25.01]Dr. Kathiresan and his colleagues [02:28.19]published their findings in the Lancet medical journal. [02:31.89]Another widely held medical belief [02:35.85]has also come into question recently. [02:38.63]For years, men over the age of forty have been told [02:43.89]to get a simple blood test to see if they have prostate cancer. [02:49.39]Now, experts on a government committee are advising them not to. [02:54.98]Dr. Virginia Moyer heads the United States [02:58.95]Preventive Services Task Force. [03:01.86]VIRGINIA MOYER: "Close to two-thirds of older men [03:03.85]have prostate cancer and yet the huge majority of them [03:07.87]never have a problem from it in their lifetime." [03:10.44]The task force examined two large studies [03:13.63]before deciding that treating the cancer [03:16.65]found by the PSA test can do more harm than good. [03:21.96]Effects of the treatment can include a loss of [03:25.87]sexual ability and bladder control, [03:29.20]as well as other problems including heart attacks. [03:33.73]Some experts support the findings of the task force, [03:38.27]but others disagree. [03:40.36]Urologist Deepak Kapoor says [03:43.66]in about twenty years of PSA testing, [03:47.10]death rates for prostate cancer [03:49.94]have dropped by thirty-eight percent. [03:53.46]And that's the VOA Special English Health Report. [03:58.13]I'm Steve Ember.