Differential reduction of plasma cholesterol by the American Heart Association Phase 3 Diet in moderately hypercholesterolemic, premenopausal women with different body mass indexes

The ability of a low-fat, low-cholesterol diet to improve the risk-factor profiles of moderately hypercholesterolemic, premenopausal women was evaluated. Nineteen women were fed a typical American diet for 1 mo, after which a low-fat diet consisting of 2 1 % of total energy (en%) as fat, 59 en% carbohydrates, 19 en% protein, and 96 mg cholesterol/d (P:S 1.8) was given. After 5 months, total and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol was decreased by 7% and 11%, respectively, and total triglycerides increased by [nearly equal to]30%. High-density-lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol was decreased by 12% at month 2 and 5% at month 5 (P < 0.05). Although HD[L.sub.2] cholesterol decreased progressively throughout the diet period to -35% by month 5, HD[L.sub.3] cholesterol, which decreased to 5% at month 1, increased to +7% by month 5. Of the plasma apolipoproteins only apo A-II was altered (+ 15%) by the diet. Body mass index correlated to baseline values and affected response to diet; only the leanest women had significant decreases in total, LDL, and HD[L.sub.2] cholesterol in response to the low-fat diet.