Hello. There have been many studies in this area. Refer to the AACE 2013 guidelines for cholesterol and intervention algorithms. The endocrinology association came out with revised guidelines in spring of 2015. There is no such thing as borderline cholesterol since ATP III became outdated. The treatment of elevated lipids is detemined now by an algorithm of risk factors and current health history. I suggest if you would like to know more about the studies you google this document and review the information and the associated studies. LDL is used as a protein carrier for cholesterol that dumps the cholesterol onto the arterial wall for plaque formation. The 10% differentiation? First I would have to ask where you got that information, is it evidence-based and as in all things - a bell curve leaves the biggest part of the curve representing the majority and then there are the smaller 10% outliers that don t fit the bell curve. I don t quite understand what you are looking for here. Should you take medicine? I would have to review your lipid profile, how high the lipids were, look at your current health, your genetics and other risk factors, plug them into an algorithm to determine a course to take. That is your physicians job. In the meantime you can follow a heart healthy diet (google Mediterrean diet), kill off trans fat, limit cholesterol to 200 mg/day, increase soluble fibers, add omega 3 fatty acids to the diet, limit saturated fat to 7% of your calories and increase plant sterols. These are general, public health guidelines for a heart healthy diet, oh, and 240 minutes of exercise per week. I do hope I have answered your question. If not, please come back after reading the recommended literature with questions. I also tried to give you non-drug options. I truly hope this has helped. Kathryn Shattler, MS,RDN