TOP OFFICIALS at Britain鈥檚 Department of Health are rumoured to be in
favour of widespread cholesterol screening. But Australian researchers now
believe that knowing the level of cholesterol in your blood can be bad for
your health.
According to an Australian study published in the British Medical Journal,
people who learned that they had 鈥榤oderate鈥� cholesterol levels (between
5.5 and 6.5 millimoles per litre of blood) concluded wrongly that they were
鈥榓ll right鈥�. They did not alter their diet to reduce their intake of saturated
fat, in contrast to people discovered to have higher levels. Yet even people
with moderate levels of blood cholesterol are at substantially higher risk
of heart disease.
The researchers, Scott Kinlay and Richard Heller of the Centre for Clinical
Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Newcastle in Australia,
conclude that measuring everyone鈥檚 cholesterol levels to establish those
at highest risk 鈥榤ay interfere with population strategies designed to reduce
everyone鈥檚 dietary intake of fat鈥�.
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Meanwhile, the Department of Health鈥檚 Standing Medical Advisory Committee
has submitted a report on cholesterol screening, but its contents have not
yet been made public. A spokeswoman from the department said the report
is 鈥榥ow being considered by Ministers鈥�. Last year, a 鈥榗onsensus鈥� conference
organised in London by the King鈥檚 Fund, which funds conferences on health
issues, concluded that mass screening would be counterproductive unless
doctors鈥� surgeries received the funds to provide counselling on diet and
exercise.
At the moment, those people found to have levels above 6.5 mmol/l are
likely to be offered a lifetime鈥檚 prescription for new cholesterol-lowering
drugs. The long-term side effects of these drugs are not yet known (see
鈥楧iet, drugs and heart disease鈥�, New 女生小视频, 25 February 1989).
A recent survey of 2000 Britons by the Office of Population Censuses
and Surveys* showed that cholesterol levels were on average 5.8 mmol/l.
Fat provided 40 per cent of food energy (which excludes energy from alcohol).
Only 12 per cent of men and 15 per cent of women met the target of the Committee
on Medical Aspects of Food Policy, which urges that fat should provide no
more than 35 per cent of food energy.
The survey also found signs of an increase in obesity among Britons.
The report concludes that 12 per cent of women are obese, compared with
8 per cent in 1980. The increase is less marked in men 鈥� 8 per cent against
6 per cent in 1980. At the time of the survey, 12 per cent of women and
4 per cent of men said they were slimming.
Differences also emerged in the amount of vitamins people consume. Londoners
and people living in the Southeast had higher levels of beta carotene in
their blood. This is now thought to inhibit the development of some cancers.
* The Dietary and Nutritional Survey of British Adults, Office of Population
Censuses and Surveys, Social Survey Division. HMSO.
