ABSTRACT
I. INTRODUCTION Many factors are associated with increased risk for coronary heart disease (CHD), a major cause of morbidity and mortality in prosperous Western countries. Some of these factors, such as increasing age or a family history of premature CHD, are not amenable to preventive intervention, but other factors are. Three of these preventable factors-the distribution of plasma cholesterol over the low density and high density lipoproteins (LDLs and HDLs), the oxidizability of LDLs, and hemostasis-can be modified by changing the sources and amount of fats and oils in the diet. The purpose of this chapter is to review some of the most recent and important findings on the effects of dietary fatty acids on these three risk factors.
