The main metabolic disturbance occurring after a meal is elevated triglyceride levels.

The Framingham Heart Study – a meta-analysis of 17 clinical trials performed by Hokanson and Austin (test on 46,413 men and 10,864 women, as well as the Copenhagen City Heart Study and the Asia Pacific Cohort Studies Collaboration confirmed the correlation between elevated postprandial plasma triglyceride levels and the risk of cardiovascular disease.

The importance of the Oral Fat Tolerance Test and the significance of determining postprandial triglyceride levels are further supported by numerous studies:

• The Women’s Health Study
• The Copenhagen City Heart Study
• The Physicians Health Study
• The Apolipoprotein-related Mortality Risk Study
• The second Northwick Park Heart Study and
• The Norwegian Study

The diagnostic value of the Oral Fat Tolerance Test is that it defines an accurate procedure for determining and assessing postprandial triglyceride levels, the increase of which is associated with an increase in cardiovascular risk.