Reduction of low density and high density lipoprotein cholesterol by fat-modified diets. A survey of recent findings.
The aim of this review is to summarize recent findings concerning the effects of fat-modified diets on serum lipoproteins, especially on high density lipoprotein (HDL) and low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol concentrations. Generally, both HDL and LD cholesterol are reduced in subjects on diets enriched in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA diets). The only exceptions to this rule are hypertriglyceridaemic patients with low HDL or LDL concentrations. The changes in HDL and LDL cholesterol are inversely related to the respective HDL and LDL concentrations before dietary treatment. Increasing HDL cholesterol concentrations are seen only during simultaneous body weight reduction. Low HDL cholesterol concentrations are not normalized on PUFA diets. The ratio of LDL cholesterol to HDL cholesterol shows only marginal changes during treatment with a PUFA diet. Thus we cannot clearly state how a lipid-lowering diet might contribute to the anti-atherogenic effect which seems to be characteristic of this type of diet, on the basis not of the change in fasting serum lipoprotein concentrations, but of epidemiological and experimental data.