[funchy]

Originally Posted by willows

does anyone know of any good research out there that we could forward to the insurance company? or any other ideas?

Check out the info posted by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.

Excerpt of one of the web pages:

"Preventive Medicine and Nutrition


Cholesterol and Heart Disease

Every day, nearly 2,600 Americans die of some type of cardiovascular disease, an average of one death every 34 seconds, and 7.1 million Americans have had a heart attack during their lifetimes.1 Those who survive often go on to have another heart attack later on. But this need not happen. Eating habits and other lifestyle factors play a large role in the risk of heart disease. Moreover, heart disease can usually be prevented and even reversed...

What Is Atherosclerosis?

Atherosclerosis is not caused by old age. When battlefield casualties were examined during the Korean and Vietnam wars, American soldiers had significant atherosclerosis at only 18 or 20 years of age. Their Asian counterparts, raised on a diet consisting mainly of rice and vegetables, had much healthier arteries.

Older people are more likely to have heart problems than younger people because they have had more time to indulge in unhealthy habits, not because they have a hereditary tendency towards heart disease. Usually, the problem is not due to genetics, but to eating and smoking habits. Your doctor can tell you if you are one of only about 5 percent of the population with a true genetic tendency towards heart disease.

Many studies have shown the connection between cholesterol and heart problems. Beginning in 1948, under the direction of William Castelli, M.D., the population of Framingham, Massachusetts, has been monitored to see what influences the rate of heart disease. Castelli’s study has shown that there is a cholesterol level below which, essentially, coronary artery disease does not occur. Framingham data show that only patients with cholesterol levels of less than 150 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dl) achieve the lowest coronary artery disease risk. In the first 50 years of the Framingham study, only five subjects with cholesterol levels of less than 150 mg/dl developed coronary artery disease. Rural residents in the developing areas of Asia, Africa, and Latin America typically have total-cholesterol levels of about 125-140, and they do not develop coronary artery disease......"

I also have pretty low cholesterol since I am vegetarian. I've never heard my doc or ins company say it's too low though -- too low being bad is news to me.