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People will be jumping at this to get off statins and their dietary restrictions...I didn't have time to dig into all the studies and some weren't accessible but the point is that they mentioned LOW cholesterol. Not NORMAL cholesterol levels. Is low cholesterol that common? What is the definition because it must be different than normal....therefore, not an excuse to just go crazy to prevent something that is not a given anyway.
We really all like simple answers and science is rarely simple. We want things to be all good or all bad...perhaps both high and low cholesterol are "bad" and there is a narrower range than once believe that we need to best stay within. Lower is not always better - maybe this was not an issue with earlier less effective drugs but now that some drugs dramatically lower cholesterol we need to be sure we don't go too far. That would not be especially surprising - more a case of science moving too far in one direction and then correcting itself as more is known.
But more broadly - one quote: That the relationship is an inconsistent one does not necessarily imply that it is an invalid one. Rather, the inconsistency suggests that the relationship is probably a variable or a partial one (i.e., low serum cholesterol levels variably or partially contribute to or manifest with these psychiatric phenomena) that may only be relevant in some individuals. Given the role of variable or partial contribution, whether this relationship is genuinely causal (i.e., that low serum cholesterol levels contribute to the generation of psychopathology) or secondary (psychopathology results in low serum cholesterol levels) remains unknown.
Emphasis on these studies not specifically showing causality (leaving the question an open one) and also showing that the relationship is a complicated one regardless and is influenced by other factors as well. So in combination with other things, low cholesterol has some relationship with depression. Not quite as strong a statement as first appeared.
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