Effects of 3-month Mediterranean-type diet on postprandial TAG and apolipoprotein B48 in the Medi-RIVAGE cohort

OBJECTIVE: To determine the postprandial lipaemia response before and after intervention with healthy diets in the Medi-RIVAGE cohort of subjects with moderate risk factors of CVD. DESIGN: One hundred and thirty-five adults (fifty-two men and eighty-three women) followed either a Mediterranean-type (MED) diet or a low-fat American Heart Association-type diet in a parallel design for 3 months. At entry and after 3 months, lipids, glucose and insulin were measured in the fasting samples; TAG and apolipoprotein B48 (ApoB48; a marker of intestinally derived chylomicrons) levels were measured in the fasting and postprandial samples after a standard test meal. RESULTS: The MED diet only lowered (P < 0·028) fasting TAG and both diets reduced TAG and ApoB48 levels 5 h after the test meal. The overall 5 h postprandial ApoB48 response (area under curve (AUC)/incremental AUC) was lowered after both diets but this effect was more marked after the MED-diet intervention. Whatever the TAG level at entry, normo- and hyper TAG subjects showed a reduction in the postprandial ApoB48 levels after 3-month diets. BMI at entry did not impact the effect of diets given subjects with BMI < or >25 kg/m2 showed reduced postprandial ApoB48. Men and women displayed comparable postprandial changes after dietary challenges. CONCLUSIONS: A MED diet appears efficient to improve postprandial lipaemia, a recently acknowledged CVD risk, in men and women at moderate cardiovascular risk.