LDL levels lower in some dieting patients

Recommending that pediatrics patients eat less fat might not be the best advice.

That’s according to a recent article in Current Opinion in Lipidology’s February issue. Lead researcher Jorma Viikari, MD, PhD, and associates reviewed field work on supervise counseling on reducing saturated fat intake. The talks led to lowered total cholesterol, and also lower low-density lipoproteins (LDL), the “bad” fat. They found no cognitive or pubertal developmental problems with those who had received counseling.

The goal for such counseling, the authors say, is to change not the quantity of fat taken into the body, but the quality of it. Too much fat is of course a negative, but better to change the ratios, to boost up the "good" High-density lipoproteins, and reduce the LDLs and triglycerides.

The authors also recommended early statin therapy, to reduce the risk factors that could wreck havoc later in life. The recommendation was for children and adolescents with familial hypercholesterolemia, to prevent vascular atherosclerosis.