chief, division of preventive medicine and nutrition, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, New York

Conventional measurements of cardiac lipoprotein risk include cholesterol, triglyceride, and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels. Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol is estimated from these measurements.

The background required for assessing this paper by Hanefeld and Forst is derived from clinical studies using statin and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPAR)γ agonists.

Extrapolating experimental findings to humans requires one to remember 2 basic dictums: (1) drugs do a lot of stuff; and (2) animal and in vitro findings are often wrong.