In the present study HDL increased throughout and was significantly higher than baseline in both groups at the end of the study. It was surprising that HDL increased from the start of the study and no further decrease was seen in response to the rather significant weight loss which is what is usually observed [23].
It has been proposed that non-HDL cholesterol is a better predictor of CVD risk as it may include a wider array of atherogenic particles such as intermediate density li- poproteins (IDL), very low density lipoproteins (VLDL), li- poprotein (a) and LDL and it can be calculated in a non- fasting sample [24,25]. In a population based study Lu et al. [25] found a strong association between non-HDL cholesterol and CVD in both men and women. The hazard ratio in the highest quartile of non-HDL cholesterol was 2.23 for men and 1.80 for women, higher than either LDL cholesterol alone or total cholesterol-to-HDL ratio. In our study, non-HDL cholesterol decreased significantly with time in both groups (p < 0.05) with weight loss alone with no effect of diet. The small increase in LDL cholesterol in the HPD was due to greater reductions in statin prescribing in this group.