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Lipids and Human Health

Influence of Fatty Acids on Levels of Serum Cholesterol

The Burnsides Research Laboratory, University of Illinois, Urbana

ABSTRACT

In summary, dietary fats represent the most compact food energy source available to man. However, dietary fats should not be thought of solely as providers of unwanted calories, as fats are as vital to cell structure and biological function as protein. Tissue fat can be synthesized either from carbohydrate or from protein; therefore, the total calorie intake rather than any one dietary component is crucial to the amount of deposition of lipids into the tissue.

An optimum intake of essential fatty acids may be important to the integrity of the cell wall of erythrocytes. However, until the entire picture of the role of dietary fats in optimum nutrition is clarified, it would seem judicious to consume a well-balanced diet of meat, milk, eggs, vegetables, fruits, and sufficient cereals and bread to provide for an adequate protein, vitamin, and caloric intake. The optimum total intake of linoleic acid in the American dietary pattern could be increased through availability of less severely hydrogenated shortenings, but the indiscriminate dietary substitution of soft for hard fats or the elimination of eggs from the diet seems undesirable.