High cholesterol dropping in adults, CDC says

Cholesterol-lowering drugs, less smoking cited.

April 24, 2012 at 7:20PM

Though it may seem incredible in a nation where two-thirds of adults are overweight, U.S. health officials say only 13 percent of U.S. adults have high total cholesterol.

Experts believe it's largely because so many Americans take cholesterol-lowering drugs, but dropping smoking rates and other factors also contributed.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the report Tuesday. The numbers come from interviews and blood tests of nearly than 6,000 U.S. adults in 2009 and 2010.

--ASSOCIATED PRESS

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about the writer

Colleen Stoxen

Deputy Managing Editor for News Operations

Colleen Stoxen oversees hiring, intern programs, newsroom finances, news production and union relations. She has been with the Minnesota Star Tribune since 1987, after working as a copy editor and reporter at newspapers in California, Indiana and North Dakota.

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