SANANTONIO, Tex., March 3 Most people who want to avoid heart disease try to keep their cholesterol down. But a new study finds that lower may not always be better in elderly men.
　　
　　Doctors have learned that in men over 70, a cholesterol level below 160 can be as dangerous as a level over 240.
　　"Some people who have low cholesterol and stay low are at high risk of dying," said Dr. David Curb of the University of Hawaii, who co-authored a study on the subject, released today on the last day of the American Heart Association convention in San Antonio.

"There's something happening between the ages of 50 and 80," Curb adds. "There's real metabolic changes going on that we don't understand. I mean, because the cholesterol relationships are changing, the other lipid relationships are changing."

The study suggests that the best cholesterol range for older men is between 200 and 219.

Caution to Doctors

The finding that low cholesterol in elderly men is not necessarily a healthy thing might serve as a caution to doctors who treat patients for high cholesterol, say the study's authors.

"Very low cholesterol may also be associated with coronary heart disease, which suggests that caution may be warranted in lipid-lowering therapy in the very elderly patients," says Dr. Beatriz Rodriguez, also of the University of Hawaii.

　　From ABCNews.com