Table 3. The effect of dietary SM supplementation on body weight and serum lipid levels in high fat-fed apoE^-/- mice (Study 2).

Diet	HF	HFSM 1.2%
Initial body weight (g)	15.88±0.33	15.55±0.44
Final body weight (g)	18.76±0.43	21.16±0.51**
Weight gain (g)	2.89±0.54	5.61±0.29***
Serum cholesterol (mmol/L)	40.95±3.87	33.31±2.69
Serum triglycerides (mmol/L)	1.34±0.14	1.68±0.17
Serum NEFA (mEq/L)	1.11±0.14	1.32±0.20
Serum SM (mg/dL)	149.85±13.16	151.53±4.79

ApoE^-/- mice were maintained on a high fat diet with or without SM for 16 weeks. Serum lipid levels were quantified as described in Materials and Methods. The values represent the mean ± SEM. Significant differences between high fat-fed (HF) animals and the high fat-fed, SM-supplemented animals (HFSM) were determined using a Student’s t-test (homoscedastic, two-tailed). NEFA: Non-esterified fatty acid.

**P<0.01

***P<0.001