Fatty acid composition of serum cholesterol esters as a reflector of low-saturated-fat, low-cholesterol diet in young children: the STRIP project

STRIP (the Special Turku coronary Risk factor Intervention Project) is an o ngoing intervention trial which aims at a permanent reduction in the intake of saturated fat and cholesterol starting in childhood. A total of 75 inte rvention and 63 control children was studied consecutively at the ages of 7 and 13 mo, and 2, 3 and 5 y to evaluate the influence of such intervention on serum cholesterol ester (CE) fatty acid composition, a widely used biom arker of fatty acid intake. Analysis of 4-d food records showed that total intake of fat and of saturated fat increased with age in both groups of chi ldren but was constantly lower in intervention than in control children, e. g. at the age of 5 y the mean intakes of total fat and of saturated fatty a cids were 31.1 E% and 33.9 E% and 12.1 E% and 14.6 E% in intervention and c ontrol children, respectively (p = 0.009 and 0.0001, respectively). Serum C E fatty acid compositions did not differ between the 2 groups at any age; t he mean proportion of CE linoleic acid was 52.4% and 52.0% in 5-y-old inter vention and control children, respectively. Correlation analysis showed, ho wever, that the percentage of linoleic acid and of polyunsaturated fatty ac ids in CE reflected well the respective dietary intakes (r = 0.36; p = 0.00 01 for both coefficients). In conclusion, CE fatty acid composition did not differ between the interve ntion and control groups, whereas CE linoleic and total polyunsaturated fat ty acids reflected well the differences in their intakes at the individual level.