IS THERE A RELATION BETWEEN DIET AND BLOOD CHOLESTEROL?

Abstract

THE LEVEL of the blood cholesterol varies with certain disease states, and recently some workers have thought that a high level may be related to the development of atheromatosis. It has been suggested by Dock¹ and by others² that the amount of cholesterol in the diet is a factor in determining the concentration of this material in the blood and in the production of atheromas. Doubt has been expressed, however, concerning the importance of the dietary cholesterol as a controlling factor of the blood level, and also as to its etiologic significance in atherosclerosis.³ Many assumptions of those favoring a dietary factor in the production of atherosclerosis have been based on the fact that in certain races whose members ingest less cholesterol and animal fat this change in the arteries is less prominent. Since so many other known and unknown variables may be present, it is obvious