The relationship of dietary fat to plasma lipid levels as studied by factor analysis of adipose tissue fatty acid composition in a free-living population of middle-aged American men

E. M. Berry, J. Hirsch, J. Most, D. J. McNamara, J. Thornton

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

60 Scopus citations

Abstract

We have used adipose tissue biopsies to assess the quality of fat in the diet and its influence on plasma lipid levels in 413 free-living normolipidemic male subjects. Factor analysis identified three factors which separated the fatty acids on the basis of their chemical stucture. F1-monounsaturates - animal fats: F2-saturates - carbohydrates: F3-polyunsaturates - vegetable oils. An increase in F1 was associated with an increase in plasma triglycerides (TG), plasma total cholesterol (TC), and VLDL-C: an increase in F2 led to a decrease in VLDL-C. A rise in F3 was associated with lowered TG, VLDL-C, and HDL-C, and HDL-C but increased LDL-C. However, the contribution of each of these factors to the variance in TG, TC, LDL-C, and HDL-C was small, namely: 5.48, 1.30, 2.57, and 2.02%, respectively. A special relationship between F3 and VLDL-C was found such that 16.22% of its variance could be attributed to F3. Our conclusion is that adipose tissue composition and, by implication, the type of dietary fat intake, explains only a small proportion (1-19%) of the variance in plasma lipids in normolipidemic subjects.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)220-231
Number of pages12
JournalAmerican Journal of Clinical Nutrition
Volume44
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 1986
Externally publishedYes

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