Yea so that’s cool other than the fact that they are… you know FUCKING BEARS and all
I’m ready for the aliens. I don’t want to live on this planet anymore 🤣😭
Hibernating brown bears have roughly double the cholesterol and triglycerides of healthy humans—yet show no atherosclerosis or heart disease.
During winter hibernation, free-ranging brown bears (Ursus arctos) experience plasma cholesterol levels around 12 mmol/L (versus ~5 mmol/L in humans) and elevated triglycerides, along with obesity, physical inactivity for months, and other metabolic stressors that would typically promote vascular disease in humans.
Histopathology of coronary arteries and aortic arches from adult bears has repeatedly shown no fatty streaks, foam cell infiltration, inflammation, or atherosclerotic lesions—even in animals that have lived through multiple hibernation cycles.
Key protective mechanisms identified in research include:
• LDL particles that are larger and have 5–10× lower affinity for arterial proteoglycans (the binding that helps drive plaque formation in humans)
• Higher plasma cholesterol efflux capacity
• Stabilized or more cardioprotective HDL composition (including increased HDL2b)
• Greater antioxidant capacity and reduced inflammatory/oxidative markers during hibernation
These findings come from multiple studies on Scandinavian brown bears, including work in Scientific Reports, the Journal of Lipid Research, and related papers.
The takeaway is straightforward: high circulating cholesterol and triglycerides do not automatically produce atherosclerosis. Context—lipoprotein structure, function, inflammatory status, and overall metabolic handling—matters. Bears offer a natural model of high lipids without the expected vascular damage.