Serum Lipoprotein and Cholesterol Concentrations: Comparison of Rural Costa Rican, Guatemalan, and United States Populations

A previous study indicated that Guatemalan Indians, both male and female, tended to maintain low levels of serum cholesterol throughout adulthood but that beta-lipoprotein fractions increased with age, as is usually the case in populations in the United States. To investigate whether race was of importance in this unexpected dissociation between these lipid fractions, a similar study was done with a rural group in Costa Rica, which was comparable in the diet consumed and in many other environmental factors, but of pure European origin. At all ages the cholesterol values were slightly higher but the same type of dissociation was observed.