Low cholesterol may be a result of underlying cancer, challenging a concern that lower total cholesterol may lead to cancer, a U.S. researcher suggests.Dr. Demetrius Albanes of the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md., and colleagues looked at data from 29,093 men from the Alpha-Tocopheral, Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention Study.

Low cholesterol was linked — as in previous studies — to an 18 percent higher risk of cancer overall. However, this risk disappeared when the researchers excluded cases in the early years after the original blood draw. Also, higher levels of high-density lipoprotein, the “good” cholesterol, were associated with a 14 percent decreased risk of cancer even after excluding nine years of early cases.

“Our study affirms that lower total cholesterol may be caused by undiagnosed cancer,” Albanes said in a statement. “In terms of public health message, we found that higher levels of ‘good cholesterol’ seem to be protective for all cancers, which is in line with recommendations for cardiovascular health.”

The finding is published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.