Mjt. Kallio et al., APOPROTEIN E PHENOTYPE DETERMINES SERUM-CHOLESTEROL IN INFANTS DURINGBOTH HIGH-CHOLESTEROL BREAST-FEEDING AND LOW-CHOLESTEROL FORMULA FEEDING, Journal of lipid research, 38(4), 1997, pp. 759-764
Our objective was to establish the role of the apoprotein (ape) E phen
otype in determining serum cholesterol levels in infants fed exclusive
ly on high-fat, high-cholesterol human milk and in those fed a low-cho
lesterol, high-unsaturated fat formula. The total and lipoprotein chol
esterol, apoB, and triglyceride concentrations in serum were quantifie
d and related to the apoE phenotype in 151 infants at birth and at 2,
6, 9, and 12 months of age. Forty-four had the E3/4 or 4/4 phenotype (
E4 group), 94 had the E3/3 phenotype (E3 group), and 13 had the E2/3 o
r 2/4 phenotype (E2 group). In cord blood, cholesterol concentrations
tended to be higher in the E4 than in the E2 group. With exclusive bre
ast-feeding, the concentrations rose significantly faster and higher i
n the E4 group than in the E3 group or, especially, the E2 group. The
values (mmol/L, mean +/- SEM) were 1.6 +/- 0.15, 1.5 +/- 0.05, 1.4 +/-
0.1 (P = n.s.) at birth; 4.2 +/- 0.1, 3.8 +/- 0.08, 3.4 +/- 0.2 (P <
0.001) at 2 months; 4.4 +/- 0.15, 3.9 +/- 0.1, 3.4 +/- 0.15 (P < 0.001
) at 4 months; 4.3 +/- 0.17, 4.0 +/- 0.13, 3.7 +/- 0.26 (P < 0.001) at
6 months; 4.8 +/- 0.28, 4.4 +/- 0.11, 3.8 +/- 0.05 (P < 0.001) at 9 m
onths; and 4.1 +/- 0.11, 4.4 +/- 0.08, 4.1 +/- 0.19 (P < 0.001) at 12
months, for the E4, E3, and E2 groups, respectively. Increases in LDL
cholesterol and LDL apoB behaved similarly. The total triglyceride, an
d total HDL, HDL2, and HDL3 cholesterol concentrations did not depend
on the apoE phenotype. Among infants fed high-fat, high-cholesterol hu
man milk, the total and LDL-cholesterol concentrations and the LDL apo
B concentration of those with the apoE phenotype 4/4 or 3/4 rose faste
r and to higher levels than in other infants. Among formula-fed infant
s, receiving a low-cholesterol, high-unsaturated fat diet, the differe
nces between the apoE groups were smaller.