Lack of an effect of dietary saturated fat and cholesterol on blood pressure in normotensives.

The effect on blood pressure (BP) levels of modifying the saturated fat and cholesterol content in the diet was studied in two separate protocols in normotensive volunteers. For 3 months, 19 men and women, aged 14 to 54 years, adhered to a diet that eliminated meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy fat from the subjects' customary nonvegetarian diet, which had included 71 g/day (35%) of dietary fat. The experimental diet reduced the consumption of saturated fat from 21 to 10 g, dietary cholesterol was lowered from 398 to 69 mg per day, but consumption of polyunsaturated fatty acids, carbohydrates, and dietary fiber was unchanged. Body weight and urinary sodium and potassium excretion were not significantly altered. Mean BP before and after the low fat diet was 116/74 and 115/74 mm Hg, respectively. A second double-blind study tested the effect on BP of dietary cholesterol at levels of 155 and 471 mg/day. Seventeen semivegetarian college students consumed one egg per day concealed in desserts for 3 weeks, and identical desserts containing no eggs for an additional 3 weeks. Mean BP at the end of the egg and eggless periods was 108/69 and 107/69 mm Hg, respectively. Thus, in short-term nutritional studies, dietary saturated fat and cholesterol at low-to-moderate levels of intake have no significant effects on BP in normotensive adults.