Fifty years ago during the Framingham Heart Study, researchers first suggested that cholesterol may be a weak risk factor for heart disease. This led to a parade of drugs (fibrates, niacin, ezetemibe, etc.) that, despite lowering cholesterol, didn't help people live longer or avoid heart attacks. When the completed, 30-year data from the study was analyzed, in most age groups high cholesterol wasn't associated with more deaths. In fact, for older people, deaths were more common with low cholesterol.