Associations betwenn dietary fat and serum lipid profile depend on body fat and gender in european adolescents: the Elena Study

Abstract

Background and objectives: Dietary and body fat are associated with adverse serum lipid profile and higher cardiovascular diseases (CVD) risk in adults. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between fat intake and body fat and serum lipid profile in European adolescents from eight European cities participating in the cross-sectional (2006-2007) HELENA study. Methods: Weight, height, waist and hip circumferences, skinfolds thicknesses, total cholesterol (TC), high density lipoprotein- cholesterol (HDL-c), low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-c), triglycerides, apolipoprotein B and A1 were measured in 454 adolescents (44% boys) aged 12.5-17.5 years. TC/ HDL-c, apolipoprotein B/apolipoprotein A1, waist-to-hip and waist-to-height ratios were calculated. Fat intake was assessed by two 24-hour dietary recalls. Associations were evaluated by multilevel analysis stratified by gender. Results: After adjustments for potential confounders, a negative association was observed between dietary fat (g/day) and triglycerides, TC, TC/HDL-c ratio, LDL-c, apolipoprotein B and apolipoprotein B/apolipoprotein A1 ratio among female adolescents. Moreover, the ratios waist-to-hip and waist-toheight were positively related to triglycerides and TC/HDL-c ratio and negatively with HDL-c. A positive association was also found between waist-to-height ratio and apolipoprotein B and apolipoprotein B/apolipoprotein A1 ratio. No significant associations were observed in boys. An interaction was found between fat intake and body fat-related variables. Indeed, considerable adverse serum lipid profile was observed across tertiles of fat intake for those adolescents with higher sum of skinfolds and waist-to-hip and waist-to-height ratios compared to those with lower values for body fat measures. Conclusions: Our results suggest that fat intake and body fat are associated with serum lipid profile and that this association differs according to gender and initial body fat status. These findings should be considered when developing strategies to prevent CVD risk among adolescents since serum lipids are major markers of CVD risk. Key words: fat intake, body fat, gender, adolescents