Smoking lowers and drinking raises HDL2-C and HDL3-C in healthy men, but neither affects CETP or LCAT activity (Jpn Circ J 1995)

To distinguish between the effects of smoking and drinking on lipid metabolism, we conducted a cross-sectional study using 52 healthy normolipidemic subjects who either smoked or drank, but not both. The subjects were divided into three groups: Group S, smokers who did not drink (n = 20); Group D, drinkers who did not smoke (n = 12); and Group C, controls (n = 20), who neither drank nor smoked. High density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels and plasma cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) and lecithin: cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT) activities were measured in all of the subjects, and the values obtained in Group S and Group D were compared to those of controls. Group S had lower (p < 0.01) HDL2-C and HDL3-C levels, and Group D had higher (p < 0.05) HDL2-C and HDL3-C levels than the controls, but there were no significant differences between groups with respect to CETP and LCAT activities. Thus, in healthy normolipidemic men, both smoking and drinking affect HDL-C levels as expected, but do not affect plasma CETP or LCAT activity levels.