Raising “good cholesterol” levels may not be as effective as lowering “bad cholesterol” for reducing the risk of developing heart disease, a new study has found.

Low and very high levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL), known as “good cholesterol” are associated with higher risk of dying from heart disease, cancer and other causes, said researchers from University of Toronto in Canada.

Low level of good cholesterol may not be a heart disease risk factor on its own and also raising HDL does not likely reduce a person’s risk of heart disease, they said.

To reduce risk of suffering a cardiac episode, many patients are treated to lower their low-density lipoprotein (LDL) or “bad cholesterol”, with statins — a medication used to block the enzyme needed in the body to produce cholesterol. However, some people do not respond to this treatment, so researchers have been studying HDL and whether raising levels of “good cholesterol” could have the same benefits as lowering “bad cholesterol.”

Researchers studied over 631,000 individuals without prior cardiovascular conditions through a research database that links together multiple individual-level population-based datasets on sociodemographics, cardiac risk factors and comorbidities, medications in Canada.

Patients were between 40 and 105 years old, with an average age of 57.2.