Nutritional management of lipids for overweight and obesity: what can we achieve?

Abstract

Overweight and obesity are independent risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Manycardiovascular disease risk factors are elevated in overweight and obese individuals,including dyslipidemia and inflammation, among others. Current dietary recommendations focus on achieving a healthy body weight and lowering intake of transand saturated fat, and cholesterol to reduce total cholesterol and LDL-C. Recent advancesin our knowledge of lipid responses to specific macronutrient(s) means that it is nowpossible to individualize diet ‘prescriptions’ on the basis of the presenting clinicallipid/lipoprotein profile. However, these diets may be less effective in overweight, obeseindividuals who are ‘inflamed’ and insulin resistant. Consequently, there is great interest inidentifying strategies for decreasing inflammation and increasing insulin sensitivity to realizethe full benefits of a blood cholesterol-lowering diet in overweight or obese individuals.

Keywords:

• C-reactive protein
• Diet Intervention
• Inflammation
• Insulin resistance
• Lipids
• Lipoproteins
• Obesitye