Daily intakes of fatty acids, sterols, and phospholipids by Japanese women and serum cholesterol.

The daily intakes of various lipids by 72 Japanese women (40-59 years of age) were measured directly from mock samples of food actually consumed (this method is similar to the duplicate portion method). One sample was collected from each of 12 subjects every 2-months for a period of 1 year. The daily intakes of total fatty acid (FA), cholesterol, plant sterol, phospholipid (PL), and phosphatidylcholine (PC) were 37.9 g, 300 mg, 152 mg, 3.1 g, and 1.7 g, respectively. No effect of the sampling period was found for any lipid measured. The combined eicosapentaenoic (EPA) and docosahexaenoic (DHA) acids showed marked individual variation, and ranged from 0 to 4.3 g, and the average was 0.8 g. The n6/n3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) ratio ranged from 0.9 to 19.1 (average, 4.2). There was a strong correlation only between cholesterol and PL intakes (r = 0.796, p < 0.05). The mean serum cholesterol, which was known in 42 subjects was 190 mg/dl, and showed no relation to their daily intakes of any of the measured lipids.