Nonhypercholesterolemic effects of a palm-oil diet in Malaysian volunteers

The effects on serum lipids of diets prepared with palm olein, corn oil, and coconut oil supplying approximately 75% of the fat calories were compared in three matched groups of healthy volunteers (61 males, 22 females, aged 20-34 y). Group I received a coconut-palm-coconut dietary sequence; group II, coconut-corn-coconut; and group III, coconut oil during all three 5-wk dietary periods. Compared with entry-level values, coconut oil raised the serum total cholesterol concentration greater than 10% in all three groups. Subsequent feeding of palm olein or corn oil significantly reduced the total cholesterol (-19%, -36%), the LDL cholesterol (-20%, -42%%) and the HDL cholesterol (-20%, -26%) concentrations, respectively. Whereas the entry level of the ratio of LDL to HDL was not appreciably altered by coconut oil, this ratio was decreased 8% by palm olein and 25% by corn oil. Serum triglycerides were unaffected during the palm-olein period but were significantly reduced during the corn-oil period.