title: On the within-population relationship between dietary habits and serum lipid levels in Belgium.
abstract: In a Belgian population group of 15,954 male and 2116 female subjects, an epidemiological survey has been conducted to investigate the relationship between dietary fat intake and serum total and HDL-cholesterol. The study has established, both in men and in women, a significant positive relationship between serum total cholesterol and the dietary intake of saturated fat and a significant negative one between serum total cholesterol and the intake of polyunsaturated fat and the P/S-ratio of the diet. At equal levels of consumption, polyunsaturated fat has a decreasing effect on serum total cholesterol which is about half the increasing effect due to saturated fat. Polyunsaturated fat and the P/S-ratio decrease the HDL-cholesterol value but only with borderline significance. The present study demonstrates the importance of dietary fat as a determinant of the serum lipid level within a population.
authors: Division of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Leuven, Belgium.
authors: H
authors: H
authors: Kesteloot
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Geboers
authors: P
authors: P
authors: Pietinen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001530:Belgium; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood*; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL / Q000097:blood*; D004041:Dietary Fats / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D004042:Dietary Fats, Unsaturated / Q000008:administration & dosage; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000208:ethnology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged
chemical_list: D008076:Cholesterol, HDL; D004041:Dietary Fats; D004042:Dietary Fats, Unsaturated; D002784:Cholesterol