“Those with diabetes tend to have lower levels of HDL, and part of the risk of CVD in this group relates to this,” says Robert H. Eckel, MD, past president of the American Heart Association and professor of medicine emeritus at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora. “The important message about cholesterol for those with diabetes is that blood cholesterol is probably as much, if not more, related to CVD than in the general population.”