Assessing the Observed Relationship between Low Cholesterol and Violence‐related Mortality

Abstract

Health advocacy groups advise all Americans to restrict their dietary intake of saturated fat and cholesterol as an efficacious and safe way to lower plasma cholesterol concentrations and thus reduce the risk of coronary heart disease and other atherosclerotic disorders. However, accumulating evidence suggests that naturally low or clinically reduced cholesterol is associated with increased nonillness mortality (principally suicide and accidents). Other evidence suggests that such increases in suicide and traumatic death may be mediated by the adverse changes in behavior and mood that sometimes accompany low or reduced cholesterol. These observations provided the rationale for an ongoing series of studies in monkeys designed to explore the hypothesis that alterations in dietary or plasma cholesterol influence behavior and that such effects are potentiated by lipid-induced changes in brain chemistry. In fact, the investigations in monkeys reveal that reductions in plasma cholesterol increase the tendency to engage in impulsive or violent behavior through a mechanism involving central serotonergic activity. It is speculated that the cholesterol-serotonin-behavior association represents a mechanism evolved to increase hunting or competitive foraging behavior in the face of nutritional threats signaled by a decline in total serum cholesterol (TC). The epidemiological and experimental data could be interpreted as having two implications for public health: (1) low-cholesterol may be a marker for risk of suicide or traumatic death and (2) cholesterol lowering may have adverse effects for some individuals under some circumstances.

Lipid-Lowering Medication Use and Aggression Scores in Women: A Report from the NHLBI-Sponsored WISE Study

“…In experiments using nonhuman primates, animals assigned to cholesterol-lowering diets acted more aggressively and exhibited less affiliative behavior than those on a high-fat diet. 42 The current study suggests that statin drugs may increase aggression.…”

Cholesterol in coronary heart disease and psychiatric disorders: Same or opposite effects on morbidity risk?

“…Although other studies have suggested that serum cholesterol may be a marker for central serotonergic activity (Steegmans et al, 1996;Terao et al, 2000;Vevera et al, 2005), it is worth noting that Hibbeln et al (1998) found a strong correlation between brain serotonin metabolites and omega-3 fatty acids, a finding suggesting that, in previous studies, cholesterol was acting as a ''surrogate marker'' for omega-3 fatty acids (Hibbeln et al, 2000). Kaplan et al (1997) proposed a plausible evolutionary rationale for the cholesterol-serotonin hypothesis. They argue that, rather than being an accidental relation, natural selection may have shaped the behavioral and physiological responses induced by a reduction in serum cholesterol to provide an adaptive advantage.…”

Hunger and violence

“…Food deprivation, hunger and their effects on violent mechanisms are public concerns and issues that need to be studied more. Derleme / Review GİRİŞ Besin öğesi yetersizliklerinin bireylerin ruhsal durumunu etkilediği çeşitli çalışmalarla gösterilmiştir (1)(2)(3)(4)(5). Saldırganlık ve şiddet içeren, kendine ve başkasına zarar verici davranış-larda bulunan bireylerde bazı besin öğelerinin eksiklikleri veya nörotransmitterlerin metabolizmasındaki bozuklukların rolü olabileceği görüşü yaygındır.…”

“…Düşük kolesterol düzeyinin serotonin fonksiyonunu etkilediği ileri sürülmektedir. Düşük kolesterollü diyetle beslenen maymunların, yüksek kolesterol diyeti ile beslenenlere oranla BOS'da serotonin düzeyleri düşük bulunmuştur (4). Başka bir çalışmada, majör depresif, şizof-ren grup ve kontrol grubu karşılaştırılmış, şizofreni grubunda toplam kolesterol düzeyleri majör depresyon grubuna göre anlamlı ölçüde düşük bulunmuş, majör depresyon grubuyla sağlıklı kontroller arasında toplam kolesterol düzeyi açısından fark bulunmamıştır.…”