Concern that Australia is facing a chronic disease "time bomb" is growing, as latest research shows an earlier positive trend in cholesterol may now have gone into reverse.
A review of first-up cholesterol tests conducted across the country has shown there was an encouraging decline in the indicator for heart disease risk from 2004 to 2008.
But this improvement was seen to stall and, said Professor Simon Stewart, there were now concerns it could be on the rise again.
"Cholesterol levels were declining at the first-point-of-contact all the way up to 2009 when there was an intriguing upward inflection," said Prof Stewart, who is head of preventative cardiology at the Baker IDI Heart & Diabetes Institute in Melbourne.
"I think it is very clear that we are at the crossroads between sustaining lower levels of cholesterol and having higher levels ... which puts us at increased risk of more heart attacks and strokes."
The review took in the results of almost 200,000 cholesterol tests performed from 2004 to mid-2009, as middle-aged men and women had their heart attack risk assessed for the first time or went to their GP for emerging heart health concerns.
High cholesterol in the blood is defined as 5.5 millimoles per litre (mmol/L) or more, although for high-risk individuals the National heart Foundation puts the target figure at below at 4.0 mmol/L.
The review found Australia's average cholesterol figure was 5.3 mmol/L - just below the official mark for high blood pressure - in 2004 and this made a welcome decline to 5.1 mmol/L in 2008.
But the improvement stalled here and in mid-2009 the figure had climbed back up to 5.15 mmol/L.
Professor Stewart said Australians had traditionally struggled with "less than ideal cholesterol levels" and more monitoring was needed to see if it was the start of a new rising trend.
Rates of obesity and high blood pressure were also on the rise, he said, and there were concerns cholesterol could be added to this troubling mix.
"This suggests it is a time bomb for the future," Prof Stewart said.
"All of our numbers at the moment suggest that we're likely to get a sustained epidemic of cardiovascular disease."
The total cholesterol figure accounts for a person's LDL or "bad" cholesterol - responsible for fatty deposits which can block or narrow the arteries - plus HDL or "good" cholesterol which has a beneficial effect and another type of blood fat (triglycerides).
The review also found more than one in three Australians had poor total cholesterol and HDL cholesterol levels, while half had poor LDL cholesterol levels.
Studies have shown if a person can reduce their LDL cholesterol by 1 mmol/L they can reduce their risk of heart attack or stroke by more than 20 per cent.
People living in Tasmania, Victoria and South Australia - "not the boom economies" - had the worst cholesterol levels, and Prof Stewart said the global financial crisis (GFC) may have played a role.
"The fast food industry was the only industry in the GFC that I'm aware of that actually reported higher levels of business activity," he said.
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