‘Good’ cholesterol may be overrated

Surprise result questions heart protection from HDL

2012 SCIENCE NEWS TOP 25: 19

Sometimes new research makes us reconsider what we know. One example this year was cholesterol, which has long been divided into black-and-white simplicity — good and bad, HDL and LDL. Because people with higher HDL tend to have fewer heart attacks (and those with high LDL have more of them), it has been a fair distinction.