Genes key to cholesterol

BERKELEY, Calif., Jul 08, 2005 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- California researchers found genes are more important than exercise in determining response to cholesterol.

Researchers at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute conducted a study to compare the effects of a high-fat diet and of exercise.

Paul Williams gave diets that were either high or low in fat to 28 pairs of identical male twins -- one twin a vigorous exerciser, the other a comparative couch potato.

For six weeks the twins ate either a high-fat diet -- 40 percent of its calories from fat, or a low-fat diet -- only 20 percent of its calories from fat; then the pairs switched diets for another six weeks. After each six-week period the twins' blood cholesterol levels were tested.

The study, published in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found a strong similarity in the way each pair of twins responded -- if one twin could eat a high-fat diet without increasing his bad cholesterol, then so could his brother.