Does high cholesterol affect alertness?

[Lobsang]

Does a cholesterol clogged blood system reduce the quantity per second of blood sent to the brain, and so affect alertness?


Thanks.

[alice_in_wonderland]

Yes. In extreme cases it can cause severe mental impairment.

Here's a pretty straight forward explanation.

Just to clarify, arterial plaques effect blood flow which effects alertness. High cholesterol can cause arterial plaques (among other things).

A young person with high cholesterol will not necessarily have any impairment, because the plaques take a while to build up - hence the higher rate of heart disease in older people.

[Lobsang]

Thanks alice.

How come your title is different?

[alice_in_wonderland]

'Cus I'm special.

Acutally, it's 'cus I was taking a little break, and no one has had a chance to change it since I've been back.

[Qadgop the Mercotan]

Not directly. I had one patient, a young girl, with cholesterol in the 1200 to 1400 range. She was of normal intelligence and attention span.

Remember: The cholesterol floating in the blood is only part of the picture. You need plaque formation on endothelial walls, then you need the plaques to ulcerate, then you need clots to form. THEN you get arterial occlusion and ischemia. And infarct, and a phenomenon called "multi-infarct dementia".

But even then this will cause alertness problems only if this critical arterial narrowing is happening in the arteries which nourish the parts of the brain responsible for alertness and cognition. If this is happening mainly in the arteries feeding the heart or kidneys, you'll have health problems, but diminished alertness won't likely be the main ones.

And Alice? If your global brain blood flow is critically impaired enough to affect alertness, you're at high risk for serious death in the very near future. And that cite you posted basically touts chelation therapy and nutritional supplements as cures for vascular disease. Mucho Quacko.

So in summary, Lobsang: I'd say no. High cholesterol is one factor in a disease process which can cause dementia. But it has no primary effect on alertness.

QtM, MD

[Lobsang]

Very informative. Thanks Qadgop