title: Validity of abbreviated oral fat tolerance tests for assessing postprandial lipemia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Postprandial lipemia is assessed using the oral fat tolerance test (OFTT), a six-hour procedure requiring hourly blood sampling. In order to simplify the test, we investigated whether a) a single postprandial triacylglycerol concentration, b) an OFTT lasting less than six hours or c) an OFTT requiring fewer blood samples, may accurately assess postprandial lipemia under various conditions.
  
  
  METHODS
  Seventy-two subjects underwent a conventional OFTT. Predictability of single-point concentrations and time-shortened tests was assessed using linear regression and re-sampling analysis. Validity of reduced-sampling tests was assessed using Pearson's correlation coefficients and Bland-Altman analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  a) A single-point triacylglycerol concentration (3 or 4h postprandially) did not present significant correlation with postprandial lipemia in the hypetriacylglycerolemic, exercise and energy restriction groups (P>0.05), b) Time-shortened OFTT (4h) was able to predict postprandial lipemia in every group studied (R(2)=0.707-0.970, P<0.01), except the hypertriacylglycerolemics (P=0.338), c) Reduced-sampling OFTT (3 or 4 samples) was able to assess postprandial lipemia in every group as well as in the overall sample (r=0.874-0.997, P<0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A more convenient, reduced-sampling OFTT may be used alternatively to the conventional OFTT, whereas a time-shortened OFTT may be appropriate only for healthy people.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Nutrition & Clinical Dietetics, Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Harokopio University, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Maraki
authors.forename: Niki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Aggelopoulou
authors.forename: Nektarios
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Christodoulou
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Katsarou
authors.forename: Panagiotis
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Anapliotis
authors.forename: Stavros A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Kavouras
authors.forename: Demosthenes
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Panagiotakos
authors.forename: Labros S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Sidossis
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D019540:Area Under Curve; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006949:Hyperlipidemias / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008297:Male; D019518:Postprandial Period; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014280:Triglycerides / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D014280:Triglycerides