Metabolic changes in healthy men using fat-modified diets. II. Composition of biliary lipids

The composition of fasting gallbladder bile was investigated in a group of 14 healthy men both on their normal diets and on a low cholesterol diet containing less saturated and more polyunsaturated fat given twice for 4 weeks. These dietary changes caused a 21.6% reduction of total serum cholesterol levels. With the use of the fat-modified diet lithogenic indices of fasting gallbladder bile were not significantly changed despite increased relative concentrations of bile acids and decreased relative concentrations of phospholipids and cholesterol in bile. Thus, the experiment provided no evidence for an increased cholelithiasis risk in healthy men ingesting 'prudent diets'.