Keeping cholesterol in check may reduce prostate cancer risk, studies suggest.

Moral of the story: So many reasons to keep your heart healthy. Cholesterol is now linked to prostate cancer.

Source: AMA Morning Rounds 11/4/09

Keeping cholesterol in check may reduce prostate cancer risk, studies suggest.

The AP (11/4, Marchione) reports, "Men may protect more than their hearts if they keep cholesterol in line: Their chances of getting aggressive prostate cancer may be lower." Scientists at two institutions detailed the research that led them to that conclusion in Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention. Even though the papers "are not definitive and have some weaknesses," they do "fit with plenty of other science suggesting that limiting fats in the bloodstream can lessen cancer risk."

HealthDay (11/3, Edelson) reported that NCI investigators reviewed "data from a study that has followed more than 29,000 Finnish men for 18 years," finding that "cholesterol levels below the generally recommended 200 milligrams per deciliter were associated with an 18 percent higher overall risk of cancer."