title: Dietary lipids and blood cholesterol: quantitative meta-analysis of metabolic ward studies.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the quantitative importance of dietary fatty acids and dietary cholesterol to blood concentrations of total, low density lipoprotein, and high density lipoprotein cholesterol.
  
  
  METHODS
  Meta-analysis of metabolic ward studies of solid food diets in healthy volunteers.
  
  
  METHODS
  395 dietary experiments (median duration 1 month) among 129 groups of individuals.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Isocaloric replacement of saturated fats by complex carbohydrates for 10% of dietary calories resulted in blood total cholesterol falling by 0.52 (SE 0.03) mmol/l and low density lipoprotein cholesterol falling by 0.36 (0.05) mmol/l. Isocaloric replacement of complex carbohydrates by polyunsaturated fats for 5% of dietary calories resulted in total cholesterol falling by a further 0.13 (0.02) mmol/l and low density lipoprotein cholesterol falling by 0.11 (0.02) mmol/l. Similar replacement of carbohydrates by monounsaturated fats produced no significant effect on total or low density lipoprotein cholesterol. Avoiding 200 mg/day dietary cholesterol further decreased blood total cholesterol by 0.13 (0.02) mmol/l and low density lipoprotein cholesterol by 0.10 (0.02) mmol/l.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In typical British diets replacing 60% of saturated fats by other fats and avoiding 60% of dietary cholesterol would reduce blood total cholesterol by about 0.8 mmol/l (that is, by 10-15%), with four fifths of this reduction being in low density lipoprotein cholesterol.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Trial Service Unit, Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Clarke
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Frost
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Collins
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Appleby
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Peto
mesh_terms: D002791:Cholesterol, Dietary / Q000378:metabolism*; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL / Q000097:blood*; D018592:Cross-Over Studies; D004032:Diet; D004041:Dietary Fats / Q000378:metabolism*; D002149:Energy Intake; D006801:Humans; D008077:Lipoproteins, LDL / Q000097:blood*; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
chemical_list: D002791:Cholesterol, Dietary; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL; D004041:Dietary Fats; D008077:Lipoproteins, LDL