Know About Consequences of Weight Reduction on Lipids and Lipoproteins

The consequences of weight reduction in children and adolescents in order
to reduce and stabilize body weight and to reverse adverse metabolic abnormalities
have been reported in several recent studies [15, 16, 43, 44]. The studies
consistently show that weight reduction decreases or even normalizes risk
factor levels: significant improvements were observed for total cholesterol,
LDL-cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Falls in serum cholesterol
and triglyceride levels correlate with percentage weight loss. The type
of reduction diet seems not to have great importance on the effect of lipids and
lipoproteins: a reduction in serum cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and triglyceride
levels without reducing serum HDL-cholesterol is obtained with a balanced low
calorie diet as well as with very low calorie diets [3, 45, 46]. Several studies
found sex-differences in the improvements of lipid profiles: girls tend to be
more susceptible to a decrease in LDL level, which might result in an increased
cardiovascular protective effect [41].
Some studies indicate that the positive effects of weight reduction are more
pronounced in those children and adolescents with an abdominal body fat distribution:
during a 6-week program significant reductions for total cholesterol
and LDL-cholesterol in obese adolescents were observed. However, girls with
abdominal obesity (WHR 0.88) had greater reductions in serum cholesterol,
LDL-cholesterol, and uric acid than did girls with gluteal-femoral obesity (WHR
0.81). In a multivariate-regression analysis, Wabitsch et al. [3] found these differences
partly explained by the greater weight loss of the girls with abdominal
obesity. They suggest that during weight reduction girls with abdominal obesity
exhibit more beneficial changes in the atherogenic risk factor profile than do
girls with gluteal-femoral obesity, partly because of a greater weight loss.