The work describes the structure and the previous results of the Göttingen Risk, Incidence, and Prevalence Study (GRIPS), a prospective cohort study with 6,000 participants and a five-year observation period to date. It investigates the extent to which coronary risk factors, particularly serum concentrations of lipids, lipoproteins, and Apo-lipoproteins, promote atherosclerotic vascular diseases, myocardial infarction, and coronary heart disease. Unlike other prospective studies, the GRIPS evaluations rely on a direct measurement of LDL cholesterol instead of the usual, often inadequate, estimation of this key metric using proxy formulas in terms of precision and accuracy. From the results, criteria for evaluating differentiated lipid metabolism findings are derived in a comprehensible manner to identify individuals with lipid metabolism disorders.