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Serum Cholesterol and Coronary Heart Disease in the Seven Countries Study

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Prevention of Coronary Heart Disease: Diet, Lifestyle and Risk Factors in the Seven Countries Study

Part of the book series: Developments in Cardiovascular Medicine ((DICM,volume 243))

Abstract

In the past century cholesterol played a predominant role in research on the etiology of CHD. On the basis of largely experimental work in rabbits and on cross-cultural comparisons of serum cholesterol levels in humans, the hypothesis was formed that arteriosclerosis and its complications were associated with hypercholesterolemia (1). Cholesterol is transported in the blood in lipoprotein fractions. In the 1950s it was shown in clinical studies that the Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) fraction in cardiac patients was higher, and the High Density Lipoprotein (HDL) fraction lower, when compared with controls (2). Advances in the genetics and cellular biology of cholesterol increased understanding about the role of mechanisms by which genes, hormones, and diet regulate serum cholesterol levels (3). Critical components of this system are lipoprotein receptors in the liver and extra-hepatic tissues that mediate the uptake and degradation of cholesterol-carrying lipoproteins.

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Authors
  1. Daan Kromhout
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Director Nutrition and Consumer Safety Division, National Institute of Public Health and the Environment, P.O. Box 1, Bilthoven, 3720 BA, The Netherlands

    Daan Kromhout (Professor) (Professor)

  2. Association for Cardiac Research Cardioricerca, Via Adda 87, Rome, 00198, Italy

    Alessandro Menotti (Professor) (Professor)

  3. Division of Epidemiology, School of Public Health University of Minnesota, 1300 South Second Street, Minneapolis, MN, 55454-1015, USA

    Henry Blackburn (Mayo Professor Emeritus) (Mayo Professor Emeritus)

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Kromhout, D. (2002). Serum Cholesterol and Coronary Heart Disease in the Seven Countries Study. In: Kromhout, D., Menotti, A., Blackburn, H. (eds) Prevention of Coronary Heart Disease: Diet, Lifestyle and Risk Factors in the Seven Countries Study. Developments in Cardiovascular Medicine, vol 243. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1117-5_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1117-5_10

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-5402-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-1117-5

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