The Lipid Response of Young Women to Dietary Carbohydrates

Abstract

Low fat diets containing either 450 gm. maize starch or 450 gm. sucrose were given to five women for periods of twenty-five days. The findings were compared with these for men on similar diets. On the sucrose diet the women showed a decrease in the total serum lipid mainly as glycerides and cholesterol, whereas the men showed the reverse. The fatty acid pattern of the serum in reponse to the sucrose diet was similar in each sex, this not being so on the starch diet. The composition of adipose tissue in women in contrast to that in men remained constant while on each dietary carbohydrate. These findings are compatible with the view that dietary sucrose in men leads to a serum lipid picture similar to that seen in ischemic heart disease.