Total Cholesterol is not a complete indicator for CHD

Total Cholesterol has been touted as the number to look to when considering total risk for Cardiac Heart Disease. 

But recent research indicates that the combination of low HDL2 and high LDL is the recipe for CHD (and not Total Cholesterol- TC).  Your TC number is made up of subfractions of lipoproteins.   Basically:

Total Cholesterol = HDL + LDL + VLDL

According to a cohort study completed by the Berkeley Lab it isn't the Total Cholesterol number that matters, but rather the combination of the HDL, LDL, and VLDL within the Cholesterol.  In all cases where Total Cholesterol seemed to be associated with Cardiac Heart Disease, the LDL number was the reason the Total Cholesterol number was high - and it was actually high LDL (in association with low HDL) that led to heart disease.