Comparison of Postprandial Lipemia between Women who are on Oral Contraceptive Methods and Those who are not

BACKGROUND: Postprandial Lipemia (PPL) is a physiological process that reflects the ability of the body to metabolize lipids. Even though the influence of oral contraceptives (OC) on PPL is not known, it is a known fact that their use increases fasting lipid values. OBJECTIVE: To compare the PPL between women who are on OC and those who are not. METHODS: A prospective analytical study which assessed eutrophic women, aged between 18 and 28 years old, who were irregularly active and with fasting triglycerides ≤150 mg/dL. They were divided into two groups: oral contraceptive group (COG) and non-oral contraceptive group (NCOG). Volunteers were submitted to the PPL test, in which blood samples were collected in time 0 (12-hour fasting) and after the intake of lipids in times 180 and 240 minutes. In order to compare the triglyceride deltas, which reflect PPL, the two-tailed Mann-Whitney test was used for independent samples between fasting collections and 180 minutes (∆1) and between fasting and 240 minutes (∆2). RESULTS: Forty women were assessed and equally divided between groups. In the fasting lipid profile, it was observed that HDL did not present significant differences and that triglycerides in COG were twice as high in comparison to NCOG. Medians of ∆1 and ∆2 presented significant differences in both comparisons (p ≤0.05). CONCLUSION: The results point out that women who are irregularly active and use OC present more PPL in relation to those who do not use OC, which suggests that in this population, its chronic use increases the risk of heart conditions.