NORMAL PLASMA-CHOLESTEROL IN AN 88-YEAR-OLD MAN WHO EATS 25 EGGS A DAY - MECHANISMS OF ADAPTATION

DIETARY cholesterol increases the plasma level of total and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and accelerates the development of atherosclerosis and its complications, but individual responses to a given change in the dietary cholesterol level vary widely.1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Such responses are reproducible to some extent, suggesting genetic as well as physiologic determinants.8,9 Several genetic determinants have been identified in nonhuman primates.10 11 12 13 The homeostatic and regulatory mechanisms that maintain a relatively constant level of plasma cholesterol despite changes in dietary cholesterol intake include alterations in the efficiency of intestinal absorption and in the rates of cholesterol biosynthesis, LDL-receptor activity, secretion of cholesterol into. © 1991, Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved.