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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Boston, Massachusetts » Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center On Aging » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #185256
Title: GENDER DIFFERENCES IN PLASMA LIPID RESPONSE TO DIETARY FAT

Author
item LAPOINTE, ANNIE - LAVAL UNIV. QUEBEC CANADA
item BALK, ETHAN - TUFTS-N.E. MEDICAL CTR
item Lichtenstein, Alice

Submitted to: Nutrition Reviews
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/1/2005
Publication Date: 5/1/2006
Citation: Lapointe, A., Balk, E.M., Lichtenstein, A.H. 2006. Gender differences in plasma lipid response to dietary fat. Nutrition Reviews. 64(5):234-249.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The relationship between type of dietary fat, atherosclerotic vascular disease risk and lipid/lipoprotein profiles has been studied since the early 1900s. For the most part, observational data from international comparisons and migration studies as well as prospective studies have identified a positive relationship between saturated fatty acid (SFA) intake and coronary heart disease (CHD) risk, although in the later case these observations were attenuated and in some cases became non-significant after adjusting for other dietary factors. Data from large scale primary and secondary intervention studies support a positive relationship between CHD and SFA. The majority of data available were derived from male subjects and if female subjects were included few studies assessed the effect of gender on responsiveness. Recent evidence has emerged suggesting females respond differently to diet with respect to CHD progression than males. The purpose of this communication was to review controlled clinical intervention studies that included data for both genders, and response to dietary fat perturbations and lipoprotein profiles. The scope was limited, for the most part, to reports that included identifiers in the title or abstract which indicated data for female and male subjects were reported separately, although a statistical comparison between the genders may not have been reported. Overall, whether the studies assessed the effect of SFA to monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA), SFA to polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), MUFA to PUFA, individual SFA or SFA to trans fatty acids, female and male subjects responded similarly and when differences were identified there was no consistent pattern.