Dietary regulation of serum lipids in healthy, young adults.

When healthy medical students and their wives were fed a diet providing 2,375 kcal per day, 33 per cent of which was derived from fat, and received a cholesterol intake of less than 250 mg. per day, their serum cholesterol levels were significantly reduced. Differences in the change in the phospholipids of the students and their wives suggest a different response of the sexes to the diet. Since increasing the P:S ratio from 0.3 to 1.2 produced comparable lowering of serum lipids, data suggest that cholesterol intake and caloric balance are of prime importance in maintaining the level of serum cholesterol.