>
>I keep wondering if total cholesterol figures are nearly meaningless as
far as
>good health is concerned.

I think Adelle Davis gives a good explanation of cholesterol in Let's Eat
Right to Keep Fit:

An important function of at least three of the B vitamins - cholin,
inositol, and vitamin B6 -  is to help maintain normal blood cholesterol,
which becomes excessive when any one of these vitamins if undersupplied.
Cholesterol deposited in the arteries has become a national problem in the
US and many investigators believe it to be the major cause of death from
heart disease.  Problems of cholesterol deposition arose only after 1910,
when machinery first came into use which removed most of the minerals and
vitamins from BREADS and CEREALS. Since then, these three B vitamins (and
vitamin E) have been largely discarded and have never been added to
so-called 'enriched' flour.

If the diet is adequate, cholesterol stays in small particles and passes
readily into the tissues to be used. Only when nutrients are lacking does
cholesterol remain in such large particles that it cannot pass through the
arterial walls.

Autopsies of 300 boys killed in the Korean War-young men at the height of
their physical development-showed that 72 per cent had cholesterol deposits
in their coronary arteries, some with advanceed atherosclerosis. The
arterires of boys dying in Vietnam were found to be in even worse condition.