Abstract
If rabbits are fed cholesterol in excessive amounts, a marked and sustained elevation of the blood cholesterol level occurs, and after a few months progressive intimal changes appear in the aorta.1Cholesterol and other lipids2are deposited in the inner layers of the aorta, and gradually lesions develop which assume most of the characteristics of human arteriosclerosis.3These findings suggest that this disease may be the result of some metabolic defect and not a necessary accompaniment of the aging process. The abnormally high incidence of presenile arteriosclerosis in patients with diabetes mellitus supports this view. Here also there is evidence that some disturbance in fat metabolism resulting in sustained hypercholesteremia is involved. Rabinowitch,4Joslin5and others have demonstrated that high fat diets given to patients with diabetes favor, and that, conversely, low fat—high carbohydrate diets retard, the appearance of hypercholesteremia and arteriosclerosis. The discovery in
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