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(Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology. 2004;24:392.)
© 2004 American Heart Association, Inc.

Editorials

Apparent Paradox of Low-Fat "Healthy" Diets Increasing Plasma Levels of Oxidized Low-Density Lipoprotein and Lipoprotein(a)

Mohamad Navab; Srinivasa T. Reddy; Brian J. Van Lenten; Alan M. Fogelman

From the Department of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, Calif.

Correspondence to Dr Mohamad Navab, Room 47-123 CHS, Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, 10833 Le Conte Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1679. E-mail mnavab@mednet.ucla.edu

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

There is a wealth of evidence to suggest that low-fat diets, particularly those rich in fruits and vegetables, are "healthy." In this issue of Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology, Silaste et al¹ report what appears to be a paradox. Feeding a diet low in total fat and saturated fat to 37 healthy women volunteers, even when supplemented with vegetables, berries, and fruit, caused an increase in the plasma levels of oxidized low-density lipoproteins (OxLDL) and lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)]. The measurement of OxLDL (normalized to apolipoprotein B [apoB]) was made with an antibody (EO6) that specifically recognizes oxidized phospholipids. As previously reported by Tsimikas et al,² the epitope recognized by EO6 was mainly associated with Lp(a) as indicated by the virtually perfect concordance between Lp(a) levels and EO6. Both of the test diets (low-fat, low-vegetable and low-fat, high-vegetable), produced small but significant decreases in HDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Only the low-fat, high-vegetable diet caused a small but significant decrease in total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol levels. Both diets caused a significant increase in plasma -carotene, ß-cryptoxanthin, and vitamin C levels, and both caused a small but significant decrease in plasma lycopene levels. The low-fat, low-vegetable diet caused a small but significant decrease in luetin–zeaxanthin whereas the low-fat, high-vegetable diet increased lutein–zeaxanthin as well as ß-carotene levels. Interestingly, there was no change in autoantibody titers to OxLDL with either diet.

See page 498

The authors suggest that these "healthy" diets may have induced a reverse transport of oxidized phospholipids and Lp(a) . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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