Abstract

The effect of diabetes mellitus on the ratio of free to esterified cholesterol of the serum has not been established (Peters and Van Slyke, 1948) although it is generally recognized that disturbances of cholesterol metabolism do occur in this condition. The usuai manifestation is a hypercholesterolemia which does not seem to be related to hyperglycemia, glycosuria, or ketonuria although it is more marked in severe cases of diabetes with a tendency to ketosis and acidosis. In patients controlled either with diet or with insulin, there is usually a normal concentration of serum cholesterol; this is not invariably true as there are several reports of diabetic subjects who continued to have high postabsorptive serum cholesterol levels, even when their diabetes was well controlled (Peters and Van Slyke, 1948).

It is difficult to interpret the cause and effect relationship of cholesterol metabolism to clinical diabetes because of the complicated picture of human diabetes.

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