Plasma cholesterol-predictive equations demonstrate that stearic acid is neutral and monounsaturated fatty acids are hypocholesterolemic.
Level 1 - systematic review of randomized trials
Meta-analysis / meta-regression of 18 published clinical studies
PubMed 7733039 · doi:10.1093/ajcn/61.4.1129
What was done
Multiple regression analyses were performed using pooled data from 18 published studies to evaluate the effects of changes in dietary stearic acid (18:0), other saturated fatty acids (12:0-16:0), monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs), and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) on total cholesterol (TC), LDL cholesterol (LDL-C), and HDL cholesterol (HDL-C) concentrations (mmol/L) in men and women.
What was found
The resulting predictive equations were: - delta TC = 0.0522 delta 12:0-16:0 - 0.0008 delta 18:0 - 0.0124 delta MUFA - 0.0248 delta PUFA - delta LDL-C = 0.0378 delta 12:0-16:0 + 0.0018 delta 18:0 - 0.0178 delta MUFA - 0.0248 delta PUFA - delta HDL-C = 0.0160 delta 12:0-16:0 - 0.0016 delta 18:0 + 0.0101 delta MUFA + 0.0062 delta PUFA Stearic acid had virtually no effect on TC and lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations, whereas other saturated fatty acids raised them and MUFAs lowered them.
Why it matters
This analysis shows that stearic acid behaves neutrally with respect to blood lipid fractions, supporting its distinction from other long-chain saturated fatty acids in dietary predictive models.
Limits
The abstract does not disclose participant sample sizes, demographics, confidence intervals, or statistical significance (p-values) for the regression coefficients. Hard clinical cardiovascular outcomes were not evaluated.
Cited by
- supports Stearic acid does not appear to raise LDL cholesterol levels.