The effect of kind of carbohydrate in the diet and use of oral contraceptives on metabolism of young women. II. Serum lipid levels.

The response of lipids in the blood between two groups of six young women was compared. Group 1 took oral contraceptives and group 2 had never taken oral contraceptives. Two experimental diets supplied about 13% of the calories from protein, 36% from fat, and 51% from carbohydrate. Of the carbohydrate, 84% was either sucrose or wheat starch. Each diet was fed for 4 weeks in a cross-over design. In the portion of the research presented here, subjects were fed a high sucrose meal before each dietary period and after weeks 1 and 3 of each dietary period. Blood lipids were measured before and 30, 60, 120, and 180 min after each meal. Cholesterol and lipoproteins were not affected by the sucrose meal, but free fatty acid levels decreased significantly in both groups. The serum levels of triglycerides, beta-lipoproteins, and cholesterol were significantly higher in users than in nonusers of oral contraceptives. Free fatty acid levels were affected by an interaction between diet and time, and the decrease in response was greater after the sucrose than after the wheat starch diet. Triglycerides, cholesterol, and total lipids were not significantly different after the two carbohydrate diets.