Magnitude of alimentary lipemia is related to intima-media thickness of the common carotid artery in middle-aged men

Fat intake leads to generation of potentially atherogenic triglyceride-rich lipoproteins (TRL). To investigate the relationship between early atherosc lerotic changes and accumulation of hepatic and intestinal TRL after oral f at intake, an estimate of the intima-media thickness (IMT) was made using u ltrasound of the common carotid artery, and postprandial TRL was quantified during a standardized oral fat tolerance test in 30 healthy normo- and hyp ertriglyceridemic middle-aged men. At base line the expected positive assoc iation between the LDL cholesterol level and the IMT of the common carotid artery was observed (r = 0.53, P < 0.01). In addition, postprandial plasma triglycerides, in particular those measured late (6 h) after intake of the test meal, correlated positively with the IMT (I = 0.44, P < 0.05). Of note , this latter correlation was independent of both the LDL cholesterol and t he fasting plasma triglyceride concentrations. In a multivariate analysis, 39% of the total variability for the common carotid IMT were explained by a ge, LDL cholesterol and the postprandial triglyceride level. In univariate analysis, few statistically significant relations were found between common carotid IMT and postprandial levels of chylomicron remnants, VLDL and VLDL remnants of different particle size, the latter determined by specific mea surements of ApoB-48 and ApoB-100 in subfractions of TRL. Therefore, in hea lthy middle-aged men, elevated postprandial triglyceride levels might ident ify a metabolic state related to early atherosclerosis. (C) 1998 Elsevier S cience Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.