Prevalence of cholelithiasis in men and women ingesting a serum-cholesterol-lowering diet

This study was carried out to ascertain whether, as has been suggested, the ingestion of a serum-cholesterol-lowering diet would be conducive to cholelithiasis. The prevalence of gallstones was studied in autopsied male and female patients of two mental hospitals in connection with a long-term controlled trial on prevention of coronary heart disease by means of a diet with a high polyunsaturated/saturated fatty acid ratio. The prevalence of gallstones was in men: 20/89 (equals 22.5%) on cholesterol-lowering diet and 11/44 (equals 25%) on normal diet; and in women: 151/262 (equals 42%) on cholesterol-lowering diet and 29/62 (equals 47%) on normal diet. It was concluded that in our trial the cholesterol-lowering diet was not lithogenic.