SPOTLIGHT: Hypercholesterolaemia

As we've seen in previous articles, many medical terms are often derived from either the Greek or Latin languages. Cholesterol is no exception. The term cholesterol comes from the Greek words: khole - which means bile - and steros - which means solid or stiff. The ‘ol' at the end of the word is a chemical suffix, which denotes a type of alcohol. It was added when it was discovered that cholesterol is actually a type of alcohol. The term high cholesterol means that too much cholesterol is circulating in an individual's blood, which could put them at higher risk of cardiovascular diseas...