Effect of Diet on Lipid Levels in Children/Adolescents with Familial Hypercholesterolemia

Abstract

There is enough evidence, that children and adolescents with Familial Hypercholesterolemia (FH) should be treated in order to reduce elevated Total chol and LDL-c levels and therefore avoid the risk of early cardiovascular diseases. There are many papers published in the last years dealing with drug treatment, several publications describe guidelines for the therapy, however most without any data on the effect of recommended measures. The effect of diet on lipid levels in children with FH is not well documented. The goal of this paper was to search for data describing the effect of various dietary regimes in children and adolescents with FH. Surprisingly, there are only few papers studying the effect of various dietary regimes: in general, low fat-, fat substitutedor soy bean protein substituted diets are able to lower total chol and LDL-chol on average of 10–15 %. These effects should be documented and then used before starting drug treatment. Therefore, an effect of diet could reduce drug treatment or possibly postpone for some years. Anyhow, a carefully planned and performed diet for approx. 3 months should be the basis for the treatment of all children and adolescents with FH.