The Effects of Various Vegetable Oils on the Serum Lipids of Adult American Males

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Abstract
Two studies of the effect on serum lipids of the inclusion of vegetable oil preparations in the diets of adult males living at home and choosing their own diets are reported. In the first study, conducted in 1955, 20 subjects were given approximately 1,000 calories of emulsified peanut oil as a supplement to a self-selected diet designed to maintain weight for a period of four weeks. About half the subjects gained two or more pounds. There was a significant decrease (pf 12–20 lipoprotein fraction averaging 31 and 19 mg per 100 ml, respectively. If the subjects are arbitrarily divided into the 8 who showed less than a 10 per cent decrease in their level of serum total cholesterol and the 12 who showed more than a 10 per cent decrease, the latter showed an average decrease of 16 per cent, amounting to 48 mg cholesterol. In 1957, 10 of these subjects took three tablespoons of commercial safflower oil preparations daily for four weeks. There was a significant decrease (p<0.01) in serum cholesterol averaging 28 mg per 100 ml. When the subjects are arbitrarily divided into the 4 who showed less than a 10 per cent decrease in their level of serum total cholesterol and the 6 who showed more than a 10 per cent decrease, the latter showed an average decrease of 10 per cent, amounting to 43 mg cholesterol. Caution must be used in the interpretation of results of regimens such as are described in this paper, since spontaneous variations in serum cholesterol are known to occur. Furthermore, it is highly questionable whether a decrease of cholesterol of this small amount from high initial levels (averaging 290 mg per 100 ml in 1955 and 264 mg per 100 ml in 1957) has any significance in decreasing atherogenesis or infarction.