Plasma Lipoprotein Levels in Vegetarians
The Effect of Ingestion of Fats From Dairy Products
- Frank M. Sacks, MD;
- Dean Ornish, MD;
- Bernard Rosner, PhD;
- Sandra McLanahan, MD;
- William P. Castelli, MD;
- Edward H. Kass, MD, PhD
- From the Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine (Drs Sacks, Ornish, Rosner, and Kass), and the Department of Preventive Medicine and Clinical Epidemiology (Dr Rosner), Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston; and Heart Disease Epidemiology, Framingham, Mass (Dr Castelli). During the study Dr McLanahan was in private practice in Pomfret, Conn; she is now in private practice in Buckingham, Va. Dr Ornish is now with the Division of General Internal Medicine, University of California, San Francisco.
Abstract
The influence of dairy foods in the diet on plasma levels of total, low-density lipoprotein, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (TC, LDL-C, and HDL-C, respectively) was studied in 75 adult lactovegetarians living in the northeastern United States. Dairy products were the major sources of dietary saturated fat and cholesterol. The plasma TC level was positively correlated with dietary saturated fat and dietary cholesterol, and inversely correlated with the ratio of polyunsaturated to saturated fats in the diet. Correlations between the LDL-C level and the nutrients were similar to those of the TC level. The HDL-C level was not significantly related to any nutrients in the diet. The cholesterol levels of the lactovegetarians were compared with those of strict vegetarians. Lactovegetarians had 24% higher LDL-C levels and 7% higher HDL-C levels than strict vegetarians. Analysis within and among vegetarian populations suggests that ingestion of fatty dairy products raises the LDL-C level on a percentage basis about three times more than it raises the HDL-C level.
(JAMA 1985;254:1337-1341)
Footnotes
-
Reprint requests to 180 Longwood Ave, Boston, MA 02115 (Dr Sacks).
