SCIENCE REPORT

Study measures higher cholesterol after the holidays

Danish researchers studied 25,764 people in Copenhagen whose average age was 59. All had blood drawn regularly to test lipid levels.

Average total cholesterol in the group for the whole year was 205, just over the recommended guideline of 200. Average LDL, or “bad” cholesterol, was 116, just above the recommended 100 level.

But for three successive years in the first week of January, the average cholesterol was 240 and the average LDL was 143, both well into the unhealthy range.

The senior author, Dr. Anne Langsted, said lack of exercise and indulgence in high-fat food could be to blame. But, she said, “A steady high cholesterol is what’s dangerous. We can’t say for sure, but the peaks at Christmas may not be so important if you have a good level the rest of the year.” Virus more dangerous than Zika, research suggests

The mosquito-borne virus that causes Rift Valley fever might severely injure human fetuses if contracted by mothers during pregnancy, according to new research that suggested it could be even more damaging to fetuses than the Zika virus, which left thousands of babies in Central America and South America with severe birth defects in 2015.

Hundreds of cases of Rift Valley fever occur in humans each year, causing flulike symptoms and severe liver problems. In late 2000, an outbreak in Saudi Arabia infected more than 100,000 people and led to at least 700 deaths. The mosquito that carries the disease is also found in Europe and the Americas.

New York Times