Talbot CPJ, et al. - In abdominally obese men, the impacts of diet-induced weight loss on HDL-mediated cholesterol efflux and cholesterol ester (CE) transfer was assesed, along with differences between normal-weight and abdominally obese men. Among abdominally obese men, no improvement was noted in ABCA1-mediated cholesterol efflux and CE transfer in those who had a dietary weight loss of 10 kg after a 2-week weight-stable period.

Methods

• This study included 25 apparently healthy, normal-weight men (waist circumference <94 cm) and 52 abdominally obese men (waist circumference 102–110 cm).
• Random allocation of abdominally obese subjects to a dietary weight-loss intervention group or a no–weight loss control group was carried out.
• The intervention group achieve a waist circumference below 102 cm via 6 weeks of a very-low-calorie diet, followed by a 2-week weight-stable period.
• Researchers measured cholesterol efflux in BODIPY-labeled murine J774 macrophages.
• They measured CE transfer by quantifying the transfer of CE from radiolabeled exogenous HDL to apoB-containing lipoproteins.

Results

• Abdominally obese vs normal-weight men (p≤0.001) had a 9 percentage point (pp) lower cholesterol efflux capacity, whereas CE transfer was 5 pp higher (p ≤ 0.01).
• Cholesterol efflux and CE transfer were not influenced by diet-induced weight-loss of 10.3 kg.
• In stepwise regression analysis, it was not suggested that the different fat depots were differently associated with efflux capacity and CE transfer.