Long-term monounsaturated fatty acid diets reduce platelet aggregation in healthy young subjects

The aim of the present study was to compare the response of a range of atherogenic and thrombogenic risk markers to two dietary levels of saturated fatty acid (SFA) substitution with monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) in students living in a university hall of residence. Although the benefits of such diets have been reported for plasma lipoproteins in high-risk groups, more needs to be known about effects of more modest SFA-MUFA substitutions over the long term and in young healthy adults. In a parallel design over 16 weeks, fifty-one healthy young subjects were randomised to one of two diets: (1) a moderate-MUFA diet in which 16 g dietary SFA/100 g total fatty acids were substituted with MUFA (n 25); (2) a high-MUFA diet in which 33 g dietary SFA/100 g total fatty acids were substituted with MUFA (n 26). All subjects followed an 8-week run-in diet (reference diet), with a fatty acid composition close to the UK average values. There were no differences in plasma lipid responses between the two diets over 16 weeks of the study with similar reductions in total cholesterol (P