Journal Name:
European Journal of Clinical Nutrition
Article Title:
Review: Monounsaturated oils do not all have the same effect on plasma cholesterol
Date Written:
1998
Volume:
52
Number:
Page:
312
Author(s):
Treswell, A.; Choudhury, N.
Article:
Early human dietary trials on the effects of different fatty acids on serum C levels found that OA had a neutral effect while PUFAs such as LA consistently lowered serum total and LDL-C. In these studies, olive oil was the source of dietary MUFAs. Beginning in the 1990's several publications reported that CO as well as high OA sunflower and safflower oils were very effective at reducing serum total and LDL-C. In this paper, the authors review the findings of four published meta-analyses that included analyses of 150 dietary feeding trials that assessed the hypocholesterolemic effects of MUFAs versus PUFAs. The authors conclude that based upon this substantial evidence, oils rich in MUFAs do not all have the same effect on plasma total and LDL-C. They provide references showing that when olive oil forms a major part of the fat in controlled human dietary experiments, serum total and LDL-C levels are higher than when the same amount of fat is fed as CO or high oleic sunflower oil.
The authors indicate that the content of other fatty acids, specifically the low levels of SFA in CO, in various MUFA oils may explain the differing hypocholesterolemic effects. Further, CO and high oleic sunflower oil contain higher levels of non-saponifiable components such as phytosterols that interfere with cholesterol absorption resulting in reductions in serum total and LDL-C levels. These observations may explain the discrepancy that has existed between older classic experiments using olive oil and more recent experiments in which CO and high oleic sunflower oils have been shown to have greater hypocholesterolemic effects than carbohydrates and equivalent cholesterol lowering effects as PUFAs., , , , , , ,
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