Previous studies have looked at cholesterol and stroke associated with heart disease and they excluded women.

This study found that being in the group with the highest level of HDL ("good") cholesterol cut the risk of stroke nearly in half.

On the other hand, having the highest level of LDL ("bad") cholesterol or non-HDL cholesterol roughly doubled the chances of having a stroke, compared with those with the lowest levels.

In other health news, women eating low-fat dairy foods may put you at higher risk of infertility.

Researchers found that women who ate two or more servings of low-fat dairy foods a day had an 85 percent higher risk of a certain type of infertility than women who ate less than one serving of low-fat dairy food a week.

Women who ate one serving of high-fat dairy food a day were 27 percent less likely to be infertile than women who avoided full-fat dairy foods.