Table 2.

One-day sample menu for the female.^a

Mealb	LF-HC diet			MF-MC diet			HF-LC diet
	Food item		g	Food item		g	Food item		g
Breakfastc	Soymilk		250	Soymilk		250	Soymilk		250
	Low-fat bread:	Flour	58	Moderate-fat cookies:	flour	50	High-fat cookies:	flour	48
		Sugar	16		Soybean oil	20		Soybean oil	38
		Egg yolk	7		Sugar	4		Sugar	4
					Egg white	30		Egg white	65
					Egg yolk	7		Egg yolk	7
								Bran	2
Lunch	Rice		120	Rice		115	Rice		80
	Dish A:	Pork chop	44	Dish A:	Pig chop	44	Dish A:	Pig chop	44
		Shallot	5		Shallot	5		Shallot	5
	Dish B:	Tofu	40	Dish B:	tofu	40	Dish B:	Tofu	40
		Chub	48		Chub	48		Chub	48
	Dish C:	White gourd	60	Dish C:	White gourd	60	Dish C:	White gourd	60
		Cucumber	200		Cucumber	200		Cucumber	200
	Soybean oil		8	Soybean oil		8	Soybean oil		8
	Salt		2	Salt		2	Salt		2
Dinner	Rice		120	Rice		90	Rice		75
	Dish A:	Chicken wing	88	Dish A:	Chicken wing	88	Dish A:	Chicken wing	88
		Ginger	2		Ginger	2		Ginger	2
	Dish B:	tomato	36	Dish B:	tomato	36	Dish B:	tomato	36
		egg	18		egg	18		Egg	18
	Dish C:	Chinese chives	100	Dish C:	Chinese chives	100	Dish C:	Chinese chives	100
	Soybean oil		8	Soybean oil		8	Soybean oil		8
	Salt		2	Salt		2	Salt		2

LF-HC = lower fat, higher carbohydrate. MF-MC = moderate fat, moderate carbohydrate. HF-LC = higher fat, lower carbohydrate.

^aFor the male, the amount of all food items, except soybean milk, were multiplied by 1.2 based on their baselined energy intake.

^bTraditional Chinese cuisines include a staple (rice or noodles or steamed bread) and stir-fried dishes (mixed food with edible oil). A majority of Chinese people tend to leave a little edible oil unconsumed which is unable to be quantitatively controlled. In order to alter the fat content of the diet without participants having to make major eating behavior, we did not distribute the additional fat evenly over the meals, but only delivered at breakfast to be consumed as low-fat bread or higher fat cookies. For example, at the energy level for the females, the LF-HC group had low-fat bread with 6.5 g of fat, while the MF-MC group replaced the low-fat bread with cookies containing 26.2 g of fat and the HF-LC group did the same but their cookies contained 44.2 g of fat. Otherwise, the menus for the 3 groups were almost identical, apart from the MF-MC and HF-LC groups eating less rice at lunch and dinner than the low-fat group. To enhance the public health relevance of the trial, the test diets were constructed with naturally occurring foods and did not include supplements or unfamiliar foods. The meals in the menus were prepared in duplicate, composited, and frozen for chemical analysis of fat and protein. For production consistency and quality control, each site purchased the same brand of each particular food item, and soybean oil was the only edible oil used in food preparation. Standardized recipes and cooking procedures were meticulously followed under sanitary conditions. As most Chinese dishes were mixed food with varied garnishes, each item was prepared in batch quantities, individually portioned, and weighed to within 0.1 g for portions < 10 g or within 0.5 g for those ≥ 10 g using electronic scales.

^cIn order to balance the intake of dietary cholesterol, breakfast in LF-HC received an egg yolk (part of the egg which is high in cholesterol), whereas the other groups received a whole egg for breakfast. In order to balance the intake of dietary fiber, breakfast in HF-LC received bran whereas the other diets did not.