FACTORS ALTERING CONCENTRATION OF BLOOD LIPIDS 397 



Table 9 

 The Blood Lipids in Young Children at Birth 

 and at Several Periods up to the Sixth Year 



Cholesterol, Phospholipids, 



Age mg. % mg. % 



Birth c 89 102.5 



First week 87 105 



5-12 months 136 152.5 



5-6 years 169 177.5 



a M. B. Gordon and D. J. Cohn, Am. J. Diseases Children, 35, 193-200 (1928). 

 b Lipid P X 25. 

 c Cord blood. 



On the other hand, Green and Macaskill 245 reported that the lipid phos- 

 phorus was as high (or higher) in the blood of newborn calves as in that of 

 their mothers; moreover, a further increase in the level of phospholipid took 

 place shortly after birth. 



(c) Blood Cholesterol in the Newborn and in Young Children. A number 

 of workers have noted low blood cholesterol values in early infancy. 238 - 246-250 

 Boyd 238 reported the blood cholesterol values of newborn infants as only 

 34 ±15 milligram per cent; 40% of this was free. Whitelaw 251 observed 

 that the serum cholesterol values of premature infants were the same as 

 those of full-term infants (70.6 miligram per cent). The levels did -not vary 

 with the degree of prematurity. It was suggested that the low cholesterol 

 value in the newborn may be due to the depressant action of the estrogenic 

 hormones. 



In babies four to twenty-five days of age, Sperry 248 found blood choles- 

 terol values of 71 to 190 milligram per cent, with an average of 135 ± 25 

 milligram per cent. 



Offenkrantz and Karshan 247 noted a gradual rise in the cholesterol level 

 in the plasma between the ages of two months and seven years, by which 

 time the sterol had reached the adult level in the blood. Likewise, Erick- 

 son and her associates 197 reported an average cholesterol value of 143 

 milligram per cent of which 24% was present as the free alcohol, in children 

 from five to nine years of age. Eck and Desbordes, 252 showed that the 

 blood cholesterol of children six to fifteen years of age was somewhat lower 



246 H. H. Green and E. H. Macaskill, J. Agr. Sci., 18, 384-390 (1928). 



246 Banu, Negresco, and Heresco, Compt. rend. soc. biol, 91, 730-732 (1924). 



247 F. M. Offenkrantz and M. Karshan, Am. J. Diseases Children, 52, 784-795 (1936). 



248 W. M. Sperry, Am. J. Diseases Children, 51, 84-90 (1936). 



249 J. M. Slemons and H. J. Stander, Bull. Johns Hopkins Hosp., 84, 7-10 (1923). 



250 D. Rosenbloom, Proc. Soc. Exptl. Biol. Med., 32, 908-910 (1935). 



251 M. J. Whitelaw, J. Clin. Invest., 27, 260-262 (1948). 



352 M. Eck and J. Desbordes, Compt. rend. soc. biol, 118, 494-501 (1935). 



