Pattern of cholesterol ester fatty acids in serum in normal subjects and in patients with essential hypercholesterolemia.

VEGETABLE oils lower the serum cholesterol level in man, and this effect is probably due to their content of polyunsaturated fatty acids, as has been demonstrated by Kinsell and co-workers, Ahrens and co-workers, Malmros and Wigand, and others. Separation of total fatty acids in serum has been performed in normal subjects and patients with demonstrated atherosclerosis by Hammond and Lundberg, Schrade and coworkers, and James and co-workers. The 2 first-mentioned studies showed a lower percentage of dienes and tetraenes in atherosclerotics as compared with normals, while James and co-workers were unable to find any differences in the serum levels of the unsaturated fatty acids between a group of normals and a group of patients who had suffered a myocardial infarction. In the work of James and co-workers, however, there was no difference in the level of serum cholesterol between the 2 groups.