American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 49, 752-757, Copyright © 1989 by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc

ORIGINAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS

Hormones regulating lipid and carbohydrate metabolism in premenopausal women: modulation by dietary lipids

SJ Bhathena, E Berlin, J Judd, PP Nair, BW Kennedy, J Jones, PM Smith, Y Jones, PR Taylor and WS Campbell
Carbohydrate Nutrition Laboratory, Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center, MD 20705.

The effect of high- and low-fat diets with different levels of fatty acid unsaturation on plasma hormones involved in lipid metabolism was studied during different phases of the menstrual cycle in 31 premenopausal women. Subjects were divided into two groups and were fed controlled diets containing 39% fat with a ratio of polyunsaturated to saturated fatty acids (P:S) of either 0.3 or 1.0 for four menstrual cycles and then switched to a 19% fat diet with the same P:S for another four cycles. Blood samples were analyzed during both the follicular and luteal phases. A significant direct effect of level of dietary fat was observed on plasma cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone- sulphate whereas an inverse relationship was seen for plasma insulin. Both plasma insulin and growth hormone levels were higher during the luteal compared with the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle. None of the hormones was affected by the level of unsaturation of dietary fats.