Abstract
Different Islamic populations have different alimentary habits, notably
during Ramadan. The paper reports the change of diet, lipids, and
lipoproteins produced during Ramadan in one Tunisian population. During
Ramadan, the study subjects consumed more proteins, cholesterol,
vitamin E (p<0.01), and polyunsaturated fatty acids (p<0.05). At
the same time, they exhibited an increase in total cholesterol,
low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (p<0.01) and apoprotein B
(p<0.05) and a decrease in the ratio of apoprotein AI to apoprotein
B (p<0.01). All assayed saturated fatty acids were unaffected by
Ramadan fasting while three unsaturated fatty acids (C18:1cis9,
C18:2n-6, and C30:4n-6) increased significantly. A return to the
habitual diet for a four-week period was not sufficient to restore the
pre-fasting patterns. For the study subjects, Ramadan was clearly
associated with a change of diet and biochemical profile but its
effective impact on atherosclerosis risk was unclear, perhaps, because
other non-alimentary changes ought to be considered too. Future studies
considering the non-alimentary factors, such as sleep and physical
activity, would be useful to clarify the contribution of dietary change
in the observed modification of biological profile.