Abstract

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death and can be accelerated with an unhealthy lifestyle. A diet high in fat and sugar yields chronic elevated triglycerides (TG) that cause vascular damage. An oral fat tolerance test (OFTT) is a common tool employed by researchers and clinicians to observe active lipid metabolism. There is currently no agreement in the literature upon a reliable OFTT and researchers have used a variety of high-fat meals to stimulate TG elevation. To compare postprandial TG responses to three OFTT fat loads (50g, 100g, 150g) in healthy adults. Methods: Data were analyzed through a three (condition: 50, 100, 150), by five (time: pre, 1h, 2h, 3h, 4h) repeated measures ANOVA. Results: Significantly lower plasma TG were observed in the 50g OFTT with no difference seen among the 100g and 150g loads. No differences with respect to TG were observed between the 100g and 150g loads (p>0.05). Each test found significantly increased plasma TG above baseline at the 1h, 2h, 3h, and 4h time points (p<0.001). Conclusion: The 150g load is unnecessarily high, therefore the 100g OFTT load is recommended as a reliable tool for assessing active TG metabolism for research and clinical purposes. This OFTT contains a higher proportion of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fatty acids and a lower proportion of saturated fat relative to OFTTs based primarily on heavy whipping cream.