Dietary fat manipulation has a greater impact on postprandial lipid metabolism than the apolipoprotein E (epsilon) genotype-insights from the SATgenε study

Abstract

Scope: Our aim was to determine the effects of chronic dietary fat manipulation on postprandial lipaemia according to apolipoprotein (APO)E genotype.

Methods and results: Men (mean age 53 (SD 9) years), prospectively recruited for the APOE genotype (n = 12 E3/E3, n = 11 E3/E4), were assigned to a low fat (LF), high fat, high-saturated fat (HSF), and HSF diet with 3.45 g/day docosahexaenoic acid (HSF-DHA), each for an 8-week period in the same order. At the end of each dietary period, a postprandial assessment was performed using a test meal with a macronutrient profile representative of that dietary intervention. A variable postprandial plasma triacylglycerol (TAG) response according to APOE genotype was evident, with a greater sensitivity to the TAG-lowering effects of DHA in APOE4 carriers (p ≤ 0.005). There was a lack of an independent genotype effect on any of the lipid measures. In the groups combined, dietary fat manipulation had a significant impact on lipids in plasma and Svedberg flotation rate (S(f) ) 60-400 TAG-rich lipoprotein fraction, with lower responses following the HSF-DHA than HSF intervention (p < 0.05).

Conclusion: Although a modest impact of APOE genotype was observed on the plasma TAG profile, dietary fat manipulation emerged as a greater modulator of the postprandial lipid response in normolipidaemic men.