Estrogens and postprandial lipid metabolism

Women with angiographically proven coronary heart disease (CAD) had higher postprandial concentrations of small chylomicron-remnants, measured as IDL apo B48, than women without CAD. Fasting TG concentrations were not differe nt and within the normal range. Thus, the postprandial concentration of sma ll chylomicron-remnants could identify women at high CAD risk within a norm olipidemic population. Replacement therapy with 17 beta-estradiol improved the clearance of chylomicron-remnants by 41% and attenuated the postprandia l reduction in HDL-cholesterol by 66%. This improvement in postprandial lip id metabolism can explain part of the protective effect of estrogens agains t CAD. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.