Researchers Find Midlife Cholesterol Latelife Alzheimer’s Link

Anyone need yet another reason to keep cholesterol in check? Here's one: The New York Times reports that people who had even slightly elevated blood cholesterol when they were in their early 40s were at greater risk of developing dementia much later in life.
The disturbing revelation stems from a study that followed 9,844 members of the Kaiser Permanente Northern
California Medical Group when they were 40 to 45 years old. The Times reports that 598 of the participants were
diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease or vascular dementia, a less common
form of dementia when they were between 61 and
88 years old.Those whose total blood cholesterol had been high —
over 240 milligrams per deciliter — were 57 percent more likely to have
developed Alzheimer’s disease than those with optimal levels. Those who
had borderline cholesterol values — between 200 and 239 milligrams per
deciliter — were at 50 percent greater risk of developing vascular
dementia.
Read more in the New York Times.
Read an abstract of the study here.