Do High-Carbohydrate Diets Affect Risk for Heart Disease?
Concern about high-carbohydrate (CHO) diets is based on evidence that they increase fasting plasma triglyceride concentrations, causing high degrees of postprandial lipemia. Day-long elevations in triglyceride-rich lipoproteins may be problematic because of the atherogenic nature of these particles. Alternatively, it has been argued that the lower fat content of high-CHO diets leads to lower postprandial concentrations of triglyceride-rich lipoproteins. This argument is based on the postulate that the magnitude of postprandial lipemia is a direct function of dietary fat content. If the degree of postprandial lipemia is confirmed as a coronary heart disease risk factor, diet modification to reduce fasting and postprandial lipemia is reasonable. Abbasi and associates studied the effects of a CHOenriched diet on fasting lipid and lipoprotein concentrations. A group of eight healthy adult volunteers who were free of metabolic disorders or other major medical problems were enrolled in the
