Dietary fats and platelet function in French and Scottish farmers

Although the intake of saturated facts still appears to be the environmental factor most closely associated with coronary heart disease (CHD), this does not necessarily mean that CHD is caused essentially or solely by blood lipids, as suggested by several investigators. It seems that blood platelets rather than (or at least in addition to) blood lipids might be the intermediate link between certain environmental factors (saturated fats, hard water) and CHD, through an effect on both thrombosis and atherosclerosis. Our recent studies in French and Scottish farmers, have shown that blood platelet function is more drastically affected by saturated fats than blood lipids. In those studies, platelet function was the only blood parameter correlated on an individual basis with the intake of saturated fat and inversely related to calcium intake. Calcium is probably the cation responsible for the protective effect of hard water against CHD in various countries. The results obtained also indicate that platelet function can be improved by increasing the intake of polyunsaturated fats at the expense of saturated fats. Finally, only platelet function was different from one region of France to another and from our region of Scotland to another; this difference could be related to the reported incidence of CHD in these various regions.