Fig. 3

Ranges and medians of mean circulating cholesterol values of different population types: Hunter-gatherer (Hadza, Inuit, Aborigines, Pygmy, San) [15, 134], Preindustrial (horticulturalists, farmer-foragers, and pastoralists) [15, 106, 120, 139, 140], and Western (United States, Canada, Australia, and Western European nations) [151]. Values are unadjusted for age and sex. When LDL cholesterol (LDL-C) measurements were not available, estimates were made on the basis of measured total cholesterol (TC). Hunter-gatherer LDL-C estimates are from O’Keefe et al. [134]. Preindustrial LDL-C range spans from 50% of the lowest TC measure of 100 (in the Brazilian Kren-Akorore Indians) to the measured LDL-C value of 135 in the group with the highest measured TC (the Kitavans in Papua-New Guinea). Western LDL-C values are all measured