Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Effects of palm oil and dietary cholesterol on plasma lipoproteins: results from a dietary crossover trial in free-living subjects

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 55, pages 748–754 (2001)Cite this article

Abstract

Objective: To study the effects of palm oil (PO) and egg consumption (E) on plasma lipoproteins.

Design: Randomized crossover trial.

Setting: Free-living subjects.

Subjects: Twenty-eight healthy male students aged 20–34 y.

Interventions: Four typical Colombian diets (10 878 kJ/day; 57% energy in carbohydrates, 12% energy in proteins and 31% energy in fats) were consumed for 4 weeks. The HPOLC diet was high in PO (8.8% energy as palmitic acid, PA) and low in eggs (181.2 mg/kJ of dietary cholesterol, DC); the HPOHC diet was high in PO and high in eggs (866.1 mg/kJ of DC); the MPOMC diet was moderate in PO (6.3% energy as PA) and moderate in eggs (581.6 mg/kJ of DC); and the LOPOMC diet had no PO and was moderate in eggs (543.9 mg/kJ of DC).

Main outcome: Total (TC), low density (LDL-c), and high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c), and triacylglycerols (TAG) were measured on a pool of three fasting blood samples collected in consecutive days the last week of each diet.

Results: Comparison of the HPOHC and HPOLC diets showed increases in TC and LDL-c of 0.21 (P=0.01), and 0.16 mmol/l (P=0.05). Comparison of LOPOMC and MPOMC diets showed increases in TC and LDL-c of 0.39 (P<0.001), and 0.38 mmol/l (P<0.001), respectively. No significant changes in HDL-c or TAG were observed.

Conclusions: Our findings suggest that non-extreme short-term changes in PO and DC consumption lead to significant elevations in plasma TC and LDL-c.

Sponsorship: CENIPALMA, Fundación Cardiovascular del Oriente Colombiano, Universidad Industrial de Santander.

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2001) 55, 748–754

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  • Anonymous (1987) New findings on palm oil Nutr. Rev. 45 205–207

  • Anonymous (1990) Saturated fatty acids in vegetable oils. Council on Scientific Affairs. J.A.M.A. 263 693–695

  • Ascherio A & Willett W (1995) New directions in dietary studies of coronary heart disease J. Nutr. 125 647S–655S

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Baudet MF, Dachet C, Lasserre M, Esteva O & Jacotot B (1984) Modification in the composition and metabolic properties of human low density and high density lipoproteins by different dietary fats J. Lipid Res. 25 456–468

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Choudhury N, Truswell AS & McNeil Y (1995) Comparison of plasma lipids and vitamin E in young and middle-aged subjects on potato crisps fried in palmolein and highly oleic sunflower oil Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 61 1043–1051

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • de Bosch NB, Bosch V & Apitz R (1996) Dietary fatty acids in athero-thrombogenesis: influence of palm oil ingestion Haemostasis 26 46–54

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Denke MA & Grundy SM (1992) Comparison of effects of lauric acid and palmitic acid on plasma lipids and lipoproteins Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 56 895–898

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Durrington PN, Bolton CH, Hartog M, Hartog M, Angelinetta R, Emmett P & Furniss S (1977) The effect of a low-cholesterol, high-polyunsaturate diet on serum lipids levels, apolipoprotein B levels and trygliceride fatty acid composition Atherosclerosis 27 465–475

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ghafoorunissa, Reddy V & Sesikaran B (1995) Palmolein and groundnut oil have comparable effects on blood lipids and platelet aggregation in healthy Indian subjects Lipids 30 1163–1169

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Grundy SM & Vega GL (1990) Causes of high blood cholesterol Circulation 81 412–427

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hegsted DM, McGandy RB, Myers ML & Stare FJ (1965) Quantitative effects of dietary fat on serum cholesterol in man Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 17 281–295

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hornstra G, Van Houwelingen AC, Kester AD & Sundram K (1991) A plam oil-enriched diet lowers serum lipoprotein(a) in normocholesterolemic volunteers. [Letter]. Atherosclerosis 90 91–93

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Instituto Colombiano de Bienestar Familiar (ICBF) (1992) Tabla de composición de alimentos colombianos Santa Fé de Bogota: Ministerio de Salud

    Google Scholar 

  • Katan MB, Berns MAM, Glatz JFC, Knuiman JT, Nobels A & De Vries JHM (1988) Congruence of individual responsiveness to dietary cholesterol and to saturated fats in humans J. Lipid Res. 29 88 3

    Google Scholar 

  • Katan MB & Beynen AC (1987) Characteristics of human hypo- and hyperresponders to dietary cholesterol Am. J. Epidemiol. 125 387–399

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Katan MB & Beynen AC (1992) Hyporesponders and hyperresponders to changes in diet In Cholesterol and Coronary Heart Disease. The Great Debate. Proceedings of an International Conference, ed. P Gold, Grover S, DAK Roncari 177–187 Park Ridge, NJ: Parthenon. Publishing Group.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keys A, Anderson JT & Grande F (1957) Prediction of serum cholesterol responses of men to changes in fats in the diet Lancet ii 959–966

    Google Scholar 

  • Keys A, Anderson JT & Grande F (1965a) Serum cholesterol response to changes in the diet. I. Iodine values of dietary fat versus 2S-P. Metabolism 14 747–758

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Keys A, Anderson JT & Grande F (1965b) Serum cholesterol response to changes in the diet. II. The effect of cholesterol in the diet. Metabolism 14 759–765

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Keys A, Anderson JT & Grande F (1965c) Serum cholesterol response to changes in the diet. IV. Particular saturated fatty acids in the diet. Metabolism 14 776–787

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Laine DC, Snodgrass CM, Dawson EA, Ener MA, Kuba K, & Frantz ID Jr (1982) Lightly hydrogenated soy oil versus other vegetable oils as a lipid-lowering dietary constituent Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 35 683–690

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Law MR, Wald NJ & Thompson SG (1994) By how much and how quickly does reduction in serum cholesterol concentration lower risk of ischemic heart disease? Br. Med. J. 308 367–373

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lipids Research Clinics Program (1974) Lipid Research Clinics Program. Manual of Laboratory Operations Bethesda, MD: National Institutes of Health.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lipids Research Clinics Program (1984) The Lipid Research Clinics Coronary Primary Prevention Trial Results—reduction in incidence of coronary heart disease J.A.M.A. 251 351–364

    Google Scholar 

  • Marzuki A, Arshad F, Razak TA & Jaarin K (1991) Influence of dietary fat on plasma lipid profiles of Malaysian adolescents Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 53 1010S–1014S

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mattson FH & Grundy SM (1985) Comparison of effects of dietary saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fatty acids on plasma lipids and lipoproteins in man J. Lipid Res. 26 194–202

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McMurry MP, Connor WE & Cerqueira MT (1982) Dietary cholesterol and the plasma lipids and lipoproteins in the Tarahumara Indians: a people habituated to a low cholesterol diet after weaning Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 35 741–744

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mutalib MSA, Wahle KWJ, Duthie GG, Whiting P, Peace H & Jenkinson A (1999) The effect of dietary palm oil, hydrogenated rape and soya oil on indices of coronary heart disease risk in healthy Scottish volunteers Nutr. Res. 19 335–348

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • National Diet–Heart Study Research Group (1968) The national diet-heart study final report Circulation 38 (Suppl I), 1–428

    Google Scholar 

  • Ng TK, Hassan K, Lim JB, Lye MS & Ishak R (1991) Nonhypercholesterolemic effects of a palm-oil diet in Malaysian volunteers Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 53 1015S–1020S

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pabón Rodríguez A (1993) La mortalidad en Colombia 1953–1991 Bogotá: Instituto Nacional de Salud.

    Google Scholar 

  • Quintero D, Alzate MC & Moreno S (1990) Tabla de composición de alimentos Medellin: Centro de Atención Nutricional

    Google Scholar 

  • Reiser R (1973) Saturated fat in the diet and serum cholesterol concentration: a critical examination of the literature Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 26 524–555

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Roberts SL, McMurry MP & Connor WE (1981) Does egg feeding (ie dietary cholesterol) affects plasma cholesterol in man? The results of a double blind study Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 34 2092–2099

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sacks FM, Salazar J, Miller L, Foster JM, Sutherland M, Samonds KW, Albers JJ & Kass EH (1984) Ingestion of egg raises plasma low density lipoproteins in free-living subjects Lancet i 647–649

    Google Scholar 

  • Schonfeld G, Patsch W, Rudel LL, Nelson C, Epstein M & Olson RE (1982) Effects of dietary cholesterol and fatty acids on plasma lipoproteins J. Clin. Invest. 69 1072–1080

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Senn S (1993) Cross-over Trials in Clinical Research New York: John Wiley

    Google Scholar 

  • Stamler J, Wentworth D, Neaton JD (1986) Is the relationship between serum cholesterol and risk of premature death from coronary heart disease continuous and graded? Findings in 356,222 primary screnees of the Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial (MRFIT). J.A.M.A. 256 2823–2828

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sundram K, Hornstra G, von Houwelingen AC & Kester AD (1992) Replacement of dietary fat with palm oil: effect on human serum lipids, lipoproteins and apolipoproteins Br. J. Nutr. 68 677–692

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tan MH, Dickinson MA, Albers JJ, Havel RJ, Cheung MC & Vigne JL (1980) The effect of a high cholesterol and saturated fat diet on serum high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, apoprotein A-I, and apoprotein E levels in normolipidemic humans Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 33 2559–2565

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wolf RN & Grundy SM (1983) Influence of exchanging carbohydrate for saturated fatty acids on plasma lipids and lipoproteins in man J. Nutr. 113 1521–1528

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank Dr Patricio López for reviewing and helping to edit the final manuscript.

Author information

Author notes

  1. LE Bautista: Guarantor: LE Bautista.

  2. LE Bautista, OF Herrán and C Serrano: Contributors: LEB was responsible for study design, supervision of the running of the study, statistical analysis, and writing of the paper. OFH designed the diets used in the study, supervised food preparation and consumption, and participated in the writing of the paper. CS was in charge of laboratory analysis and data quality, and participated in the writing of the paper.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto Colombiano de Investigación Biomédica, Universidad Industrial de Santander, Bucanamanga, Columbia

    LE Bautista & OF Herrán

  2. Fundación Cardiovascular del Oriente Colombiano, Bucanamanga, Columbia

    LE Bautista & C Serrano

Authors
  1. LE Bautista
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. OF Herrán
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. C Serrano
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to LE Bautista.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Bautista, L., Herrán, O. & Serrano, C. Effects of palm oil and dietary cholesterol on plasma lipoproteins: results from a dietary crossover trial in free-living subjects. Eur J Clin Nutr 55, 748–754 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1601218

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1601218

Keywords

  • dietary fats
  • dietary cholesterol
  • palm oil
  • lipoproteins
  • cross-over studies

Search

Advanced search

Quick links