Coronary heart disease is the principal cause of death in all Western countries. Abnormalities in the serum lipids are one of the major risk factors widely recognised as leading to this epidemic of heart disease. These abnormalities occur very com monly in the general community and in general practice, and practitioners are pre vailed upon daily to provide specific advice about diet and cholesterol and to interpret chemical estimations. This is a very emotive area of medicine, one where of...