Word: cholesterol
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Because HDL usually accounts for only a small portion of the blood's store of lipoproteins-perhaps no more than 20% in most adults (but as much as 50% in infants)-doctors long felt that it could not have any really significant effect on total cholesterol levels. Now they are being forced to reconsider that view. Some researchers believe lipoproteins not only carry off cholesterol but may actually help flush away fatty deposits from plaque on arterial walls...
...Cholesterol has been portrayed as a kind of coronary time bomb. One study after another has shown that people with the highest concentration of the fatty molecule in their bloodstreams run the greatest risk of atherosclerosis. This is the buildup of fibrous fatty plaques in the blood vessels and a precursor of heart disease-the leading cause of death in the U.S. Hence, the reduction of blood (or serum) cholesterol has become a prime goal of doctors and patients alike. Still, physicians have been puzzled by one observation: though some patients show a seemingly dangerous level of serum cholesterol, they...
Consisting of molecules of fat, including cholesterol, and protein tightly bound together into a single chemical complex, the lipoproteins are part of an intricate transport system. Among the largest and lightest of these globules are the very-low-density lipoproteins (VLDL). They carry some cholesterol but mainly other fats to various parts of the body. The slightly heavier low-density lipoproteins (LDL) move cholesterol from cell to cell, where it is used to produce sex hormones, among other things. Any excess cholesterol is picked up by the heaviest lipoproteins, HDL, which, like garbage trucks, haul it off to the liver...
...Anyhow, it was all pretty noble when it started out (wasn't it called something humorous like "Between ME-N-U" --get it?--when it first appeared?): students--or at least what the Big Codfish claimed were students--would write in with questions like, "If you laid all the cholesterol in the world end to end, how far South would I-95 be backed up?". "Is there any cholesterol in those antlers that hang from the ceiling of the Union?," or "As a freshman with hardening of the arteries, are my chances of getting into law school at all diminished...
...surgeon, Stephen E. Hedberg, who believes his peers thought their futures were set 25 years ago, and that they had no idea of the changes in values, customs and ideals they would face. He had no idea then either that he would be 40 pounds overweight with soaring cholesterol levels that would motivate him to start jogging, lose the excess weight and successfully complete the 26-mile Boston Marathon last April...