Effects of a high polyunsaturated fat diet and vitamin E supplementation on high-density lipoprotein oxidation in humans

Oxidative modification of high-density lipoproteins (HDL) impairs several biologic functions critical to its role in reverse cholesterol transport. We therefore investigated the effect of dietary polyunsaturated fat and vitamin E on the kinetics of HDL oxidation. Ten subjects were fed sequentially: a baseline diet in which the major fat source was olive oil; a high polyunsaturated fat diet in which the major fat source was safflower oil; and the safflower oil diet plus 800 I.U. vitamin E per day. Plasma lipoprotein levels, vitamin E content, fatty acid composition, and oxidation lag time and rate were determined after 3 weeks on each diet. The polyunsaturated fat diet increased the mean HDL2 lag time from 45.8±12.5 to 83.3±11.6 min with no change in oxidation rate. Addition of vitamin E further increased the HDL2 lag time to 115.6±4.4 min and decreased the HDL2 oxidation rate 10-fold. Neither the polyunsaturated diet alone nor the diet with vitamin E supplementation had any effect on HDL3 oxidation. We conclude that under conditions of controlled dietary fat intake, a high polyunsaturated fat intake does not increase the oxidation susceptibility of HDL subfractions, and that in this setting, vitamin E supplementation reduces the oxidation susceptibility of HDL2. These data suggest that antioxidants could influence HDL function in vivo.