American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 9, 148-153, Copyright © 1961 by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc.

Factors Influencing Serum Cholesterol Levels of Central American Children

II. The Effect of Gross Dietary Changes

¹ From the Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama (INCAP), Guatemala City, Guatemala

Twenty-six orphanage children in Guatemala City consuming daily 15 gm. of fat and 38 gm. of protein (36 and 24 per cent animal) were given, during successive four-week periods, adequate diets averaging 37 gm. of animal protein with 41 gm. of fat (18 per cent of calories) predominantly from cottonseed oil, 51 gm. (23 per cent of calories) mainly from hydrogenated cottonseed oil and 59 gm. (27 per cent of calories) primarily from lard. Cholesterol levels increased from 119 (s = 22) to 133 (s = 22), 147 (s = 24) and 152 (s = 26) mg. per 100 ml., respectively.

In a rural Guatemalan highland village eighteen children with cholesterol levels of 115 (s = 18) were consuming daily 11 gm. of fat and 30 gm. of protein (37 and 25 per cent animal). When dietary fat was increased with lard to 57 gm. (33 per cent of calories), and animal protein to 40 gm., cholesterol levels increased significantly to 130 (s = 13) mg. per 100 ml. in four weeks with no further change in eight weeks. Four weeks after resuming the original diet, cholesterol levels were 110 (s = 18) mg. per 100 ml.

It is concluded from these two experiments that dietary changes can elevate the low cholesterol levels of children of low income families, although not sufficiently to account for differences between upper and lower socioeconomic groups in Guatemala. In a similar village in which cholesterol levels of twenty-four children were higher initially (143, s = 29 mg. per 100 ml.) increasing fat with lard from 17 to 45 gm. (34 per cent of calories) with 24 gm. animal protein, did not change cholesterol values. The results of all four trials suggest that factors other than those studied must be important in producing the markedly lower serum cholesterol values in lower as compared with upper socioeconomic groups in Guatemala.