Hypercholesterolemia treatment: a new hypothesis or just an accident?

A new hypothesis concerning the association of low levels of steroid hormones and hypercholesterolemia is proposed. This study presents data that concurrent restoration to youthful levels of multiple normally found steroid hormones is able to normalize or improve serum total cholesterol (TC). We evaluated 20 patients with hypercholesterolemia who received hormonorestorative therapy (HT) with natural hormones. Hundred percent of patients responded. Mean serum TC was 263.5 mg/dL before and 187.9 mg/dL after treatment. Serum TC dropped below 200 mg/dL in 60.0%. No morbidity or mortality related to HT was observed. In patients characterized by hypercholesterolemia and sub-youthful serum steroidal hormones, our findings support the hypothesis that hypercholesterolemia is a compensatory mechanism for life-cycle related down-regulation of steroid hormones, and that broadband steroid hormone restoration is associated with a substantial drop in serum TC in many patients.