Repeated dietary counseling was linked to significantly lower LDL cholesterol concentrations in boys aged 7 months to 19 years, but not girls in that age group, according to study findings.

The effect of repeated low saturated fat dietary counseling on dietary intake and lipoprotein measures were evaluated in 540 children in an intervention group and 522 children in a control group.

The population was followed in an atherosclerosis prevention study — the Special Turku Coronary Risk Factor Intervention Project — from age 7 months to 19 years. The researchers analyzed dietary intakes and serum lipid profiles of the study population annually.

Measurements of serum total and HDL cholesterol and triglycerides were taken and used to estimate very low-density lipoprotein triglycerides, intermediate-density lipoprotein cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein two cholesterol, as well as apolipoproteins A-I and B.

Boys in the intervention group had a lower saturated fat intake than controls, with a mean daily difference between groups of –2.1 (95% CI, –2.3 to –1.9). For girls, the mean difference in saturated fat was –1.9 (95% CI, –2.1 to –1.7).

A similar pattern was observed for LDL cholesterol concentrations. The difference between boys in the intervention group and controls was –0.18 mmol/L (95% CI, –0.26 to –0.1) compared with controls, and the difference between girls in the intervention group and girls in the control group was –0.1 mmol/L (95% CI, –0.19 to –0.01).

No differences were observed between study groups regarding HDL cholesterol and ApoA-I. Boys in the intervention group experienced lower total cholesterol and intermediate-density lipoprotein cholesterol, very low-density lipoprotein triglycerides, ApoB and triglyceride concentrations than boys in the control group, but no differences were observed in these measurements in girls.

“Repeated dietary counseling is effective in decreasing saturated fat intake and serum LDL-C values from infancy until 19 years of age in both genders. In boys, significant intervention effects are evident in various lipoprotein measures, indicating a more favorable lipid profile in the counseling group,” the researchers concluded.

Source: Endocrine Today