Effectiveness of dietetic counselling in lowering plasma cholesterol of children affected by hypercholesterolemia

We assessed the effectiveness of the dietetic counselling provided by a paediatrician in order to obtain a reduction in plasma cholesterol levels of children affected by hypercholesterolemia (HC). Twenty one children were enrolled into the study on the basis of plasma cholesterol levels exceeding 180 mg/dl. After their parents had been? adequately instructed by the paediatrician the children were invited to follow some simple dietetic advice. This advice, focusing primarily on the quality of the ingested foods, was based on the recommendations of the Italian Society of Paediatrics. Weight, height, blood pressure, total plasma cholesterol (C) and triglycerides as well their fraction bounded to VLDL, LDL and HDL, were measured al the rime of the diagnosis and 3 to 6 and 6 to 12 months after dietetic counselling had been provided Plasma cholesterol levels were significantly reduced at 6-12 months with respect to their baseline values (205.0 +/- 49.0 vs 240.0 +/- 48.1, p < .05). This reduction appeared to be due to a decrease in LDL-C (139.0 +/- 44.4 vs 158.4 +/- 42.0, p < .05), VLDL-C (17.6 +/- 7.3 vs 23.8 +/- 10.0, p < .05) and HDL-C (48.5 +/- 7.9 vs 58.6 +/- 9.7, p < .05) levels. However, the latter were still within the recommended values. According to these preliminary results, it appears that the dietetic counselling provided by a well trained paediatrician may represent a simple and feasible way to achieve a reduction of plasma cholesterol levels in children affected by HC.