Although diet therapy is the standard initial treatment for hypercholesterolemia, the efficacy of diet therapy in Korean hypercholesterolemic patients never been investigated . This study was designed to evaluate the efficacy of diet therapy for hypercholesterolemia.

One hundred seventeen outpatients with hypercholesterolemia were educated individualized diet therapy which is low in fat, cholesterol and high fiber. After three and six month, we assessed the changes of plasma lipids, apolipoproteins, body weight and the adherence to diet therapy.

After 3 months of the diet therapy, there were significant reductions in total cholesterol(-11.8%), LDL-C(-14.5%), HDL-C(-3.9%), Apo(-5.4%), TC/HDL-C(-7.3%), Apo B /Apo A1(-7.7%) and weight(-3.1%). After 6 months of the diet therapy, there were significant reductions in total cholesterol(-10.7%), LDL-C(-14.0%), TC/HDL-C(-9.1%), Apo B/Apo A1(-7.7%) and weight(-2.3%). In this study 77% of the subjects had experienced improvement in their plasma LDL-C. Nonrespondents were older and had more female patients than respondents significantly.

Diet therapy in Korean hypercholesterolemic patients is effective for reductions of total cholesterol and LDL-C.