Data obtained froni a nutaiber of dietary experiments in mtm yield a formuht by which the responlses in serumI cholesterol to changes in diet can be predicted. In this paiiel. the reliability of this foralula is tested and the effects of various types of fatty acids Onl seruill cholesterol are investigated.THE serum cholesterol concentration in mani is strongly influenced by both the amount aiid kind of fat in the diet and it is necessary to differentiate between at least 3 classes of fatty aci(ls, saturatedl, molloelloi(, and poly-eiioic. Furthermore, even on a fixed dliet there are intrinsic differences between individuals. Finally, intraindividual variability is substantial as shown by spontaneous day-to-day variations. All these factors complicate the evaluation of the effects of the diet aiid the prediction of serum cholesterol responses to given dietary changes. However, the present paper will show that the average cholesterol responses of groups of miiein to changes of fat in the diet can be satisfactorily, predicted from knowledge of the amounts of fat in the diet and that such prediction can be made even for groups of men who are relatively hypercholesteremic or hypocholesteremic.
Pre imrinary eIredictioni from 41 Sets of DatlAs a first ap)roximation we proposed1 that the serum total cholesterol concentration be expressed as C/ol. = k + bS + cl/ + (diP (1) where k refers to all factors, other than the fats in the diet, that influence the cholesterol Front the Laboratory of Physiological 1ys gielee, University of M-inniesota, and the Hastinags State Hospital, Minn.