Blood lipid levels as influenced by weight reduction in women

This paper presents blood lipid data for twenty-four women who lost from 15 to 60 pounds in weight at rates varying from 0.6 to 2 pounds per week on diets containing approximately 1,400 calories and 50 to 80 gm. of fat daily. Also, data are presented for twelve women of comparable age who did not lose weight over a similar period of time. The data as a whole reveal the rather wide fluctuation in blood lipids which occurs in women whether losing weight under dietary control or changing little in weight with no dietary control. The data provide no support for the view that weight loss is accompanied by a drop in cholesterol or other blood lipids. On the contrary a slight rise was indicated for a majority of the subjects. In the case of serum cholesterol and phospholipids, statistical analyses revealed an increase of 0.58 mg. of cholesterol and 0.64 mg. phospholipid per pound of weight loss for the group losing weight; both were significant at the 5 per cent level.