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.

  • Original Communication
  • Published:

Giessen Wholesome Nutrition Study: relation between a health-conscious diet and blood lipids

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 55, pages 887–895 (2001)Cite this article

Abstract

Objective: To study in humans the relationship between a diet consistent with most of the current recommendations for the prevention of nutrition-related diseases (Wholesome Nutrition) and the blood lipid profile (total cholesterol, LDL-, HDL-cholesterol, LDL/HDL-ratio, triglycerides).

Design: Cross-sectional study with two diet groups.

Setting: Former West Germany.

Subjects: Healthy women (n=243, aged 25–65 y) adhering to Wholesome Nutrition for at least 5 y (subdivided into 111 ovo-lacto vegetarians and 132 low-meat eaters) and an according control group of 175 women eating an average German mixed diet. They were all recruited through an advertisement campaign and selected on the basis of their food consumption.

Results: Considering potential confounders, the Wholesome Nutrition subgroups had higher HDL-cholesterol levels than the control group. No differences were observed for total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol. For LDL/HDL-ratio and triglycerides the effect of diet was dependent on interaction terms. With increasing risk factors (age or body mass index (BMI)) the Wholesome Nutrition subgroups showed more favourable blood lipids.

Conclusions: Women eating a preventive diet on a long-term basis exhibit more favourable blood lipid profiles than women consuming an average mixed diet. This is particularly obvious for HDL-cholesterol in the presence of certain risk factors and when an ovo-lacto vegetarian version is practised.

Sponsorship: Eden Foundation, Bad Soden, Germany.

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2001) 55, 887–895

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

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

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

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Assmann GS & Schulte G (1992) Relation of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglycerides to incidence of atherosclerotic coronary artery disease (the PROCAM experience) Am. J. Cardiol. 70 733–737

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Austin MA (1997) Triacylglycerol and coronary heart disease Proc. Nutr. Soc. 56 667 – 670

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Austin MA, Hokanson JE & Edwards KL (1998) Hypertriglyceridemia as a cardiovascular risk factor Am. J. Cardiol. 81 7B–12B

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bolton-Smith, Woodward M, Smith WCS & Thunstall-Pedoe H (1991) Dietary and non-dietary predictors of serum total and HDL-cholesterol in men and women: results from the Scottish Heart Health Study Int. J. Epidemiol. 20 95–104

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Burr ML, Bates CJ, Fehily AM & St Leger AS (1981) Plasma cholesterol and blood pressure in vegetarians J. Hum. Nutr. 35 437–441

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Burslem J, Schonfeld G, Howald MA, Weidman SW & Miller JP (1978) Plasma apoprotein and lipoprotein lipid levels in vegetarians Metabolism 27 711–719

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Castelli WP, Garrison RJ, Wilson PWF, Abbott RD, Kalousdian S & Kannell WB (1986) Incidence of coronary heart disease and lipoprotein cholesterol levels. The Framingham Study. J.A.M.A. 256 2835–2838

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cullen P, Funke H, Schulte H & Assmann G (1998) Lipoproteins and cardiovascular risk—from genetics to CHD prevention Eur. Heart. J. 19 (Suppl C), C5–C11

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • EAS (European Atherosclerosis Society) (1992) Prevention of coronary heart disease: scientific background and new clinical guidelines Nutr. Metab. Cardiovasc. Dis. 2 113–156

    Google Scholar 

  • Expert Panel on Detection, Evaluation and Treatment of High Blood Cholesterol in Adults (1993) Summary of the second report of the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) expert panel on detection, evaluation and treatment of high blood cholesterol in adults (adult treatment panel II) J.A.M.A. 269 3015–3023

  • Federal Institute for Health Protection of Consumers and Veterinary Medicine (1998) The German Food Code and Nutrient Database (BLS II.2): Conception, Structure and Documentation of the Database blsdat. BgVV Publications, Berlin, Germany

    Google Scholar 

  • Gillum RF, Mussolino ME & Madans JH (1998) Coronary heart disease risk factors and attributable risks in African-American women and men: NHANES I epidemiologic follow-up study Am. J. Public Health 88 913–917

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Harman SK & Parnell WR (1998) The nutritional health of New Zealand vegetarian and non-vegetarian Seventh-Day Adventists: selected vitamin, mineral and lipid levels N.Z. Med. J. 111 91–94

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hoffmann I (1994) Gieβener Vollwert-Ernaehrungs-Studie: Untersuchung auf Bias am Beispiel von Fettstoffwechsel-Parametern Dissertation, University of Giessen. Giessen: Wiss. Fachverlag. (in German).

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoffmann I, Kohl M, Groeneveld M & Leitzmann C (1994) Development and validation of a new instrument to measure food intake Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 59 (Suppl 1), 284 S

    Google Scholar 

  • Jacobs DR, Mebane IL, Bangdiwala SI, Criqui MH, Tyroler HA (Lipid Research Clinics Program) (1990) High density lipoprotein cholesterol as a predictor of cardiovascular disease mortality in men and women: the follow-up study of the lipid research clinics prevalence study Am. J. Epidemiol. 131 32–47

  • Jacobs DR Jr, Meyer KA, Kushi LH & Folsom AR (1998) Whole-grain intake may reduce the risk of ischemic heart disease death in postmenopausal women: the Iowa Women's Health Study Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 68 248–257

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kafrissen ME (1990) Prevention of cardiovascular risk in women. A new concern for the obstetrician/gynecologist Acta Obstet. Gynecol. Scand. 152 (Suppl), 13–20

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Katan MB (1998) Effect of low-fat diets on plasma high-density lipoprotein concentrations Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 67 (Suppl 3), 573S–576S

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kimira M, Arai Y, Shimoi K & Watanabe S (1998) Japanese intake of flavonoids and isoflavonoids from foods J. Epidemiol. 8 168–175

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kinosian B, Glick H & Garland G (1994) Cholesterol and coronary heart disease: predicting risks by levels and ratios Ann Intern Med. 121 641–647

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Koerber Kv, Maennle T & Leitzmann C (1999) Vollwert-Ernaehrung—Konzeption einer zeitgemaessen Ernaehrungsweise, 9th edn. Heidelberg: Haug (in German).

  • Liu S, Stampfer MJ, Hu FB, Giovannucci E, Rimm E, Manson JE, Hennekens CH & Willet WC (1999) Whole-grain consumption and risk of coronary heart disease: results from the Nurses' Health Study

  • Liu S & Manson JE (2000) Fruit and vegetable intake and risk of cardiovascular disease: the Women's Health Study Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 72 922–928

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu S, Lee I, Ajani U, Cole S, Buring J & Manson J (2001) Intake of vegetables rich in carotinoids and risk of coronary heart disease in men: the Physicians' Health Study Int. J. Epidemiol. 30 130–135

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nutrition Committee, American Heart Association (1996) Dietary Guidelines for healthy American adults Circulation 94 1795–1800

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nutrition Committee, American Heart Association (2000) AHA Scientific Statement: AHA Dietary Guidelines. Revision 2000: a statement for healthcare professionals from the Nutrition Committee of the American Heart Association. J. Nutr. 131 132–146

    Google Scholar 

  • Projektträgerschaft Forschung im Dienste der Gesundheit (1991) Die Nationale Verzehrsstudie. Ergebnisse der Basisauswertung, Band 18. Bonn: Schriftenreihe zum Programm der Bundesregierung (in German).

  • Pyörälä K (1996) CHD prevention in clinical practice Lancet 348 S26–S28

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pyörälä K, De Backer G, Graham I, Poole-Wilson P & Wood D (on behalf of the Task Force) (1994) Prevention of coronary heart disease in clinical practice. Recommendations on the Task Force of the European Society of Cardiology, European Atherosclerosis Society and European Society of Hypertension. Eur. Heart J. 15 1300–1331

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Richter V, Rassoul F, Purschwitz K, Hentschel B & Rotzsch W (1993) Lipid screening on population basis and of vegetarians Akt. Ernaehr. Med. 18 286–290

    Google Scholar 

  • Rottka H (1990) Health and vegetarian life-style Bibl. Nutr. Dieta. 45 176–194

    Google Scholar 

  • Sacks FM, Castelli WP, Donner A & Kass EH (1975) Plasma lipids and lipoproteins in vegetarians and controls New Engl. J. Med. 292 1148–1151

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Thorogood M, Carter R, Benfield L, McPherson K & Mann JI (1987) Plasma lipids and lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations in people with different diets in Britain Br. Med. J. 295 351–353

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Thorogood M, Roe L, McPherson K & Mann J (1990) Dietary intake and plasma lipid levels: lessons from a study of the diet of health conscious groups Br. Med. J. 300 1297–1301

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Vélez-Carrasco W, Lichtenstein Alice H, Welty FK, Li Z, Lamon-Fava S, Dolnikowski GG & Schaefer EJ (1999) Dietary restriction of saturated fat and cholesterol decreases HDL ApoA-I secretion Arterioscler. Thromb. Vasc. Biol. 19 918–924

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Eden Foundation, Bad Soden, Germany. Thanks to P Leitzmann for reading the manuscript.

Author information

Author notes

  1. I Hoffmann: Guarantor: I Hoffmann.

  2. I Hoffmann, MJ Groeneveld, H Boeing, C Koebnick, S Golf, N Katz and C Leitzmann: Contributors: IH, MJG and CL contributed to the concept of the study, recruited and obtained data; IH, HB and CK were responsible for statistical analyses and writing the paper. SG and NK were responsible for laboratory analyses and quality control procedures of the blood lipids. CL conceived and participated in all phases of the study.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Nutrition Science, University of Giessen, Germany

    I Hoffmann, MJ Groeneveld & C Leitzmann

  2. National Research Centre for Nutrition, Karlsruhe, Germany

    I Hoffmann

  3. German Institute for Nutrition Research, Potsdam-Rehbrücke, Germany

    H Boeing

  4. Department of Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany

    C Koebnick

  5. Department of Medicine, Institute of Clinical Chemistry, University of Giessen, Germany

    S Golf & N Katz

Authors
  1. I Hoffmann
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. MJ Groeneveld
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. H Boeing
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. C Koebnick
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. S Golf
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. N Katz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. C Leitzmann
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Hoffmann, I., Groeneveld, M., Boeing, H. et al. Giessen Wholesome Nutrition Study: relation between a health-conscious diet and blood lipids. Eur J Clin Nutr 55, 887–895 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1601243

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1601243

Keywords

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links