Changes In Dietary Fat Intake Research Articles

Factors associated with changes in serum cholesterol during a community-based hypertension programme.

A cohort of 1019 male and 1232 female hypertensives, aged 25-59 years, based on a random population sample, was followed for five years during a community-based cardiovascular prevention programme. A small mean reduction in serum cholesterol level was found. The observed changes in casual serum cholesterol values were partly due to the regression to the mean. The reductions were most marked in elderly people and in those with high baseline serum cholesterol values. The partial regressions of the cholesterol change were computed in subgroups by age, sex and baseline serum cholesterol level. Changes in weight in men and in age in women were the strongest independent predictors of the change in serum cholesterol. Changes in dietary fat intake were also associated with the change in serum cholesterol. Only a small part of the total variation in the change in serum cholesterol was explained by the regression models. The results indicate that reduction of the serum cholesterol level among hypertensive persons, especially men, was caused by changes in their dietary habits.

Plasma cholesterol response to a change in dietary fat intake: A collaborative twin study

The rise of plasma cholesterol in response to an increase from 8 to 22.3% in saturated fatty acid of total intake was studied by comparing the concordance of change in pairs of young English and Italian monozygotic (33 pairs) and dizygotic (22 pairs) twins. LDL and total cholesterol rose about 0.6 mmol/l. All methods of analyses showed a marked genetic component influencing total and LDL cholesterol level. However, the genetic component of the increase in LDL and total cholesterol levels was small in Italy and absent in England. These results suggest that the response of plasma cholesterol to this dietary change is largely determined by environmental factors rather than inheritance.

Serum cholesterol, diet, and the decline in coronary heart disease mortality

There has been a recent and dramatic decline in coronary heart disease death rates in the United States. The possible contribution of secular trends in serum cholesterol to this decline was examined by comparison of data from five epidemiologic studies: the Framingham Study, the Tecumseh Study, the Health Examination Survey, the Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, and the Lipid Research Clinics Program Prevalence Study. It appears that in the 1960s there was a modest decline in serum cholesterol levels (approximately 5 mg/dl in middle-aged adults). Although it is impossible to exclude methodologic variation as the main explanation for the observed trends, the contribution of dietary changes to this decline was also examined, by comparison of data from the Diet-Heart Study and the Lipid Research Clinics study. The decline in serum cholesterol was found to be consistent with the observed changes in dietary fat intake in the 1960s. When the potential impact of the decline in cholesterol levels on coronary heart disease death rates was assessed by use of a Framingham multivariate logistic risk function, it was found that a decline in cholesterol of 5 mg/dl would predict a 4.3% decline in 6-year coronary heart disease death rates in middle-aged men.

Fatty acid-binding protein in small intestine. Identification, isolation, and evidence for its role in cellular fatty acid transport.

A soluble fatty acid-binding protein (FABP), mol wt approximately 12,000 is present in intestinal mucosa and other tissues that utilize fatty acids, including liver, myocardium, adipose, and kidney. This protein binds long chain fatty acids both in vivo and in vitro.FABP was isolated from rat intestine by gel filtration and isoelectric focusing. It showed a reaction of complete immunochemical identity with proteins in the 12,000 mol wt fatty acid-binding fractions of liver, myocardium, and adipose tissue supernates. (The presence of immunochemically nonidentical 12,000 mol wt FABP in these tissues is not excluded.) By quantitative radial immunodiffusion, supernatant FABP concentration in mucosa from proximal and middle thirds of jejuno-ileum significantly exceeded that in distal third, duodenum, and liver, expressed as micrograms per milligram soluble protein, micrograms per gram DNA, and micrograms per gram tissue. FABP concentration in villi was approximately three times greater than in crypts. Small quantities of FABP were present in washed nuclei-cell membrane, mitochondrial and microsomal fractions. However, the amount of FABP solubilized per milligram membrane protein was similar for all particulate fractions, and total membrane-associated FABP was only about 16% of supernatant FABP. Intestinal FABP concentration was significantly greater in animals maintained on high fat diets than on low fat; saturated and unsaturated fat diets did not differ greatly in this regard.The preponderance of FABP in villi from proximal and middle intestine, its ability to bind fatty acids in vivo as well as in vitro, and its response to changes in dietary fat intake support the concept that this protein participates in cellular fatty acid transport during fat absorption. Identical or closely related 12,000 mol wt proteins may serve similar functions in other tissues.

Infant-Feeding Practices and Blood Cholesterol Levels

T HE RELATIONSHIP of lipid metabolism, serum cholesterol levels and atherosclerosis is still unresolved. The clinical importance of quantitative and qualitative changes in dietary fat intake also remains unresolved. However, it has been shown that unsaturated fats added to the diet in sufficient proportions will lower serum cholesterol levels in ‘ Many well-qualified observers believe that serum cholesterol levels serve as an important index of atherogenicity. Holman’s investigations2 and those of other researchers over the world have indicated that atherogenesis is usually present during and after the third year of life. If this is true, and if serum cholesterol levels are important barometers of the degree of susceptibility to atherosclerotic changes, then lipid metabolism in infancy and childhood deserves intensive study. The present work was undertaken to determine serum lipid levels and the effect of various dietary changes on them in infants.