Individuality of lipemic responses to diet

The objective of this review is to assemble reports dealing with variability in the lipemic responses of both humans and experimental animal models to dietary fat and cholesterol; to extract indications of the metabolic processes controlling responsiveness; and, if possible, identify allelic variations in genes that are responsible for these difference in responses to diet. There is strong evidence of genetic control of lipemic responsiveness to dietary fat and cholesterol in several animal species (rabbit, swine, mouse, marsupial, squirrel monkey, rhesus monkey, cynomolgus monkey and baboon). Variations in bile acid secretion and cholesterol absorption are the metabolic variables most commonly associated with responsiveness. The metabolic process most frequently associated with human responsiveness is low density lipoprotein apoB production rate. The mechanism controlling dietary responsiveness varies among species and, in humans, probably among individuals. No genetic polymorphism is unequivocally identified as responsible for individual variability.