The Role of Cholesterol and Diet In Heart Disease

摘要

Shortly after World War II, the increasing incidence of coronary heart disease prompted the medical community, with government support, to initiate a massive and long-term study of what might possibly be the cause. The study, known as the Framingham Study, enrolled a large number of families whose diets, lifestyles, and environments were surveyed and their medical and laboratory findings routinely recorded. After several years, it was noted that there was a positive association between blood cholesterol levels and incidence of heart attacks. During this same period, nutrition pioneer Ancel Keys and his wife, Margaret, discovered a regional culinary tradition they named the Mediterranean diet. Convinced that this diet, which was considered low in animal fats, protected against coronary heart disease, they set out to obtain statistics on deaths from coronary heart disease and fat consumption from countries that had such statistics. They found strong associations between the two in six countries. These associations were taken as proof of cause and effect and, with support of the cholesterol-heart disease suggestion from the Framingham Study, gave rise to the lipid hypothesis, also referred to as the cholesterol hypothesis, for coronary heart disease.