CONJUGATED LINOLEIC ACID (ALC), LIPID METABOLISM AND CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE

High density lipoproteins (HDL) have been inversely related with the risk of cardiovascular diseases and are considered antiatherogenic factors. The vascular protective effect of HDL is associated to the reverse cholesterol transport, where the sterol is mobilized from peripheral tissues to the liver by HDL and redistributed to circulation or delivered through the bile as free cholesterol or transformed into bile acids. In the last years it has been demonstrated that conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), an omega-6 fatty acid from ruminants, which is a mixture of positional and geometric isomers of linoleic acid, has hipolipidemic and antiatherogenic properties in animal models. However, the precise effect of CLA on HDL metabolism and the mechanisms involved in these actions have yet not been elucidated. The present work reviews the scientific literature about the possible role of CLA as an antiatherogenic factor by controlling the reverse cholesterol transport.