Postprandial lipoproteins and coronary heart disease

Postprandial lipaemia, whether measured using levels of triglyceride of retinyl palmitate, is more severe in patients with coronary heart disease; however, little improvement in the discrimination between individuals with and without coronary heart disease can be made using postprandial measurements rather than measuring levels of high-density-lipoprotein2 cholesterol of apolipoproteins B. Retinyl palmitate levels occasionally reveal differences not apparent from triglyceride measurements. Elevated fasting and postprandial triglyceride levels may produce clinical disease partly by enhancing coagulation and by interfering with fibrinolysis.