ABSTRACT
Introduction .............................................................................................................1 The Cholesterol Risk Factor ..................................................................................3 Lipoproteins.............................................................................................................4 Atherosclerosis ........................................................................................................6 Past, Present, and Future.......................................................................................7 Lipids and Health...................................................................................................8 References ................................................................................................. 9
The German philosopher, Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860), once said that when new ideas are first introduced they are likely to be dismissed out of hand, then ridiculed, and finally, accepted as self evident. This natural progression is particularly applicable to the scrutinizing mind of the scientist who must dismiss new ideas as unacceptable, thus ensuring that acceptability will occur only when ample empirical evidence is provided. The acceptance of serum cholesterol as causally related to coronary artery disease (CAD) has traversed just such a gauntlet, and is now accepted as self-evident. Moreover, vigorous research efforts have revealed a relationship and interactions that are substantially more complex than imagined when this concept was introduced more than a half century ago.
