Abstract
The relationship between the concentrations of plasma cholesterol, high-density-lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, triglycerides and uric acid has been studied in relation to alcohol consumption in men attending a health-screening centre. Although it has been suggested that these metabolites are associated with each other by environmental factors, including ethanol consumption, the only correlation we have found between the variables which is statistically significantly related to alcohol consumption is that between total cholesterol and uric acid. A comparison of these correlations with epidemiological data suggests that assessment of cardiovascular risk is best done by using plasma cholesterol and uric acid levels, corrected for alcohol consumption. The correlation between HDL-cholesterol and the remaining fractions of plasma cholesterol is constant over all levels of alcohol consumption, and therefore the division of cholesterol between these fractions is apparently independent of both alcohol consumption and cholesterol synthesis.