To Odysseus — You're absolutely wrong! The discovery of the relationship between elevated cholesterol and atherosclerotic disease was what drove the pharmaceutical companies to search for medications that could lower cholesterol. My grandmother, back in the 1950's, knew that a high cholesterol was bad, and that was before we knew about cholesterol fractions such as HDL-C, LDL-C, and VLDL-C. At that time, the only known way to counter a high cholesterol was through diet.