These studies have typically replaced carbohydrate with MUFA, which makes it difficult to evaluate the independent effects of MUFAs when carbohydrate intake changes.
This is important, given the triacylglycerol-raising effects of
dietary carbohydrate and, specifically, a low-fat, high-carbohydrate
diet. Thus, we propose that when carbohydrate is held constant and
MUFAs replace SFAs, MUFAs elicit an independent triacylglycerol-
lowering effect. We noted a similar response in the Dietary
Effects on Lipoproteins and Thrombogenic Activity (DELTA)
Study (20), which used an experimental design comparable with
that used in the present study.