Effects of a very high saturated fat diet on LDL particles in adults with atherogenic dyslipidemia: A randomized controlled trial.
Level 2 - randomized trial
Randomized controlled trial
PubMed 28166253 · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0170664
What was done
Fifty-three phenotype B men and postmenopausal women consumed a baseline diet (55% carbohydrate, 15% protein, 30% fat, 8% saturated fat) for 3 weeks and were then randomized to either a moderate-carbohydrate, very high saturated fat diet (HSF; 39% carbohydrate, 25% protein, 36% fat, 18% saturated fat) or a low saturated fat diet (LSF; 37% carbohydrate, 25% protein, 37% fat, 9% saturated fat) for 3 weeks to measure changes in LDL subclasses and lipid markers.
What was found
Compared to the LSF diet, the HSF diet led to significantly greater percent changes from baseline (95% CI) in plasma concentrations of apolipoprotein B (9.5 [3.6 to 15.7] vs. -6.8 [-11.7 to -1.76]%; p = 0.0003), medium LDL particles (8.8 [-1.3 to 20.0] vs. -7.3 [-15.7 to 2.0]%; p = 0.03), small LDL particles (6.1 [-10.3 to 25.6] vs. -20.8 [-32.8 to -6.7]%; p = 0.02), total LDL particles (3.6 [-3.2 to 11.0] vs. -7.9 [-13.9 to -1.5]%; p = 0.03), total cholesterol (11.0 [6.5 to 15.7] vs. -5.7 [-9.4 to -1.8]%; p < 0.0001), and LDL cholesterol (16.7 [7.9 to 26.2] vs. -8.7 [-15.4 to -1.4]%; p = 0.0001). There were no differences in changes in large and very small LDL concentrations.
Why it matters
These findings indicate that in individuals with atherogenic dyslipidemia (phenotype B), high saturated fat intake raises small and medium atherogenic LDL particles and apolipoprotein B, rather than only larger LDL particles.
Limits
The sample size was small (n = 53) and the intervention duration was short (3 weeks). The cohort was restricted to men and postmenopausal women with phenotype B, limiting generalizability to other populations. Hard cardiovascular clinical outcomes were not assessed.
Cited by
- supports Saturated fat intake increases large LDL particles rather than small, dense LDL particles in the majority of the population.