Abstract
Heritable deviations from the norm generally evoke visions of Garrod's "inborn errors of metabolism," with their attendant deformities and diseases. We see them as calamities inflicted on the afflicted and as threats to future generations. Their only redeeming feature is heuristic value. Genetic aberrations are "experiments of nature" from which we may gain insights into normal metabolic processes. Thus, it comes as a happy surprise to chance on a departure from the genetic norm that can be beneficial to the affected person. It is particularly gratifying to find such a departure in an area that is usually linked with coronary heart disease—the area of lipoprotein-cholesterol metabolism. While attention has focused mainly on the positive correlation of coronary heart disease, with increased plasma levels of low-density (β) lipoprotein-cholesterol and decreased levels of high-density (a) lipoprotein-cholesterol, the reported<sup>1,2</sup>negative correlations between the incidence of the disease and the opposite distribution of
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