Total cholesterol, high density lipoprotein-cholesterol and triglycerides after a standardized high-fat meal

Total cholesterol, high density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol and triglycerides were measured fasting and at 20, 40, 60, 120 and 180 min after a high-fat meal in 22 healthy subjects. Both HDL-cholesterol and total cholesterol fell during the first 20 min after the meal whereas the mean triglyceride level increased during the observation period. In 8 of the subjects the maximum triglyceride level was reached before the end of the observation period and their fasting HDL-cholesterol level was significantly higher than in the rest of the subjects. The higher the fasting HDL-cholesterol concentration, the more rapidly the triglyceride levels returned towards initial values. The study supports the concept that the degradation rate of triglyceride-rich particles is dependent on the HDL-cholesterol level. It also suggests the use of non-fasting triglyceride values in addition to HDL-cholesterol as independent predictors in longitudinal studies for CHD.