Serum lipid and lipoprotein in infants and children and their relationship with diet.

A survey of children for cardiovascular risk factor variables has determined serum lipids and lipoproteins on some 5,000 children from birth through adolescence. Dietary studies have been conducted on a selected sample. Considerable variability of the serum lipids and lipoproteins occurs with significant relationships to age, race, and sex. Serum lipoproteins are altered with obesity especially in white children and a correlation of dietary intake of fat by infants and children had been noted with serum lipids and lipoproteins. A consistent ranking over time or tracking of the serum lipids and lipoproteins, especially beta-lipoprotein, occurs, and a clustering of multirisk factors including high levels of serum total cholesterol and beta-lipoproteins can be observed, especially in the older children. The trend toward increasing interrelationship of multirisk factors suggests an increasing environmental impact with age. The relationships of dietary components with risk factor variables are of a low order, even though children are consuming a relatively high fat, high cholesterol, high salt diet. Dietary factors are potentially the major environmental influence on the high incidence of coronary artery disease. The evidence of the relationship of diet to the serum lipid levels in children warrants further investigation in an effort to understand the precise role of diet in the prevention of adult cardiovascular disease.